


Creators are Better than the Creations

by ribkages



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, By minor I mean implied, F/F, Lena Luthor Needs a Hug, Lena teaches chemical engineering, Minor Samantha "Sam" Arias/Alex Danvers, SuperCorp, They're both oblivious, and lena knows a lot of European literature, its all just a good time, kara teaches literature, lena luthor is a genius but whats new, sam and alex are the ultimate wingwomen, specifically romance languages in literature
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-05-23 23:17:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14943194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ribkages/pseuds/ribkages
Summary: One second she’s flying down the long hallways, nose deep in her packet of papers, and the next she’s frantically reaching a hand out to try to prevent the woman she just barreled into from falling to the ground… which, of course, doesn’t work out too well, because Kara’s on her knees straddling a stranger in the middle of a busy hallway.“I—oh gosh, I’m—I am so sorry!”She didn't encounter the woman again until a week later when she was walking down the hallway, her daily outline for her class in hand. A flash of familiar jet black hair suddenly appeared in front of her, and Kara reached out for a hand and felt herself being pulled to the ground. It was by sheer luck that she stepped forward with one foot and grounded herself, pulling the woman close to her instead of falling on top of her… again.“We really need to stop meeting like this.”ORKara Danvers manages to physically run into Lena Luthor twice and a strong friendship ensues.However, even though Kara Danvers is the queen of analyzing the meaning behind words, and Lena has a genius level intellect and sharp intuition, neither realizes that the other might be wishing for just a little bit more than friendship.





	1. Chapter 1

It’s not that Kara meant to run into her—it just kind of, well, happened.

She was flipping through a stack of papers that accumulated on her desk that morning, shuffling through the busy hallways of National City University and smiling her way past groups of college kids. It was the first day of the new school year, AKA Hell Week: Professor Edition. Kara had _so_ many things to do—she had to print out her attendance sheets, make copies of the syllabus within the next ten minutes because class starts in twenty, and there just wasn’t enough time.

But then one second she’s flying down the long hallways, nose deep in her packet of papers, and the next she’s frantically reaching a hand out to try to prevent the woman she just barreled into from falling to the ground… which, of course, doesn’t work out too well, because Kara’s on her knees _straddling_ a stranger in the middle of a busy hallway.  
“I—oh gosh, I’m—I am _so_ sorry!” Kara scrambled to get up, holding her hands out for the woman to take, and she let out a relieved sigh when the woman took her hands and let herself be pulled up by Kara. The woman took a moment to wipe any dirt that may have gotten on her skirt off, then met Kara’s eyes with a sympathetic smile. Kara actually stopped breathing. _Her eyes are gorgeous._

“Don’t worry about it.” Even her voice was gorgeous. Wow, but her _eyes_ —Kara couldn’t tear her own away from them, they were so vibrant and so green, and Kara wanted to ask the woman if she had some kind of cosmetic eye surgery or something because human eyes can’t possibly be that pretty.

It wasn’t until the woman shifted a little and cleared her throat that Kara realized she was staring. “Oh—are you okay?” She tore her eyes from the woman’s and looked her over, searching for any kind of wound or sign that Kara hurt her.

“I’m perfectly okay… are you?” she raised a single eyebrow in question, and Kara swore this woman was sculpted by Michelangelo himself.

“Yeah,” Kara felt her phone buzz incessantly in her pocket and she pulled it out, frowning when she discovered what time it was, “Oh, gosh. I have to go, I’m—” She didn’t finish her sentence because she was sprinting down the hallway to her classroom. She had six minutes. Hopefully her students were competent enough to access their emails because forget making copies.

She walked into her classroom, writing a plethora of assignments on the board because this is college, students don’t get a ‘free/go over syllabi’ day. Luckily this was a class full of people who knew the whole rodeo. Everyone taking Romance Languages and Literature was someone who was genuinely interested in the subject. It was a junior level class that students prayed to get into because it was always full every single year during the four years Kara’s been teaching it.

It was always a really good feeling when she saw the spark in her student’s eyes as she started talking about Miquel Hernández, speaking passionately about passages from his poems, grinning widely when students raised their hands and asked question after question, drilling Kara as hard as they could, earning a wonderfully detailed answer from their professor. It was fun. It was invigorating. It was Kara’s passion.

“ _…veo un bosque de ojos nunca enjutos_ , okay, which means “I see a forest of eyes never dry.” I mean, come _on_! How beautiful is that?” She didn’t wait for a response, just spun around her desk and to her board. Kara gleamed as she drew a ton of black scribbles on the board that came out to look like a ton of open eyes, blue streaks thrown in to indicate tears, stepping aside to showcase the artwork, “ _eyes never drying_ —so they’re…”

“Crying.”

Kara pointed at the student with gusto, “Correct! But why? Why is this village of people crying?” She stepped back to lean against her desk, looking around the auditorium.  
One girl in the back of the class raised her hand, and Kara nodded in her direction to allow her to answer. “Because of the poet. He died, and so everyone in the village that was able to see his creations was affected by his death.”

“Why?”

“Well… because his work impacted them.” Kara pushed for a reference from the text, “”A poet dies and creation feels the hurt and the dying inside.” So that’s telling us that the poet's creations have resonated with so many people that they are able to actually feel devastated when he dies… maybe because they know that what they have now is all they will ever get.”

Kara hummed in acknowledgment, but not necessarily in agreement. She chose certain snippets of the poem specifically so her students would gather from the text exactly what they were. “Your inference was really good! But I want you guys to go home tonight and read _The Elegy for Federico García Lorca_ from _El Viento del Pueblo_. Tomorrow we’re going to be discussing the big picture of the text. Cool?”

She earned a series of nods from her students, and Kara let them go.

Day one was a success.

So was every day for the next week.

Every day was fine up until she was walking down the hallway, her daily outline for her class in hand, and a flash of familiar jet black hair appeared in front of her, and Kara reached out for a hand and felt herself being pulled to the ground. It was by sheer luck that she stepped forward with one foot and grounded herself, pulling the woman close to her instead of falling on top of her… again.

“We really need to stop meeting like this.” She smiled, her forest green eyes squinting slightly, and Kara found a similar one adorning her own features.

She let the woman’s hand go, taking a step back when she realized she was flush with her front, shyly wringing the back of her neck. “I’m sorry—for last time and this time. And maybe even the next one.”

“You could at least ask me to dinner first.”

The joke flew over Kara’s head. Completely. “Dinner?”

The dumb expression on Kara’s face made that fact very clear to the woman, and she furrowed her brow, “no, I don’t mean that literally.” She chuckled quietly at Kara’s little “oooh,” ducking her head slightly. They stood idly for a moment, just watching each other, waiting for someone to say something. “I’m Lena.”

Lena. Even her name is beautiful. Kara’s smiled widened, almost glowing as she raised her right hand to the woman, “oh, Kara.”  _Gosh, her hair is so black... and super long. It must get really hot this time of year,_ Kara silently admired the woman.

Lena took Kara’s hand and gave her warm hands a good shake, her fingertips lingering a second too long, drawing a faint blush from the blonde standing in front of her, “Kara…” her cherry red lips wrapped experimentally around the word, “I like it.” Her eyes flitted down to the folders in Kara’s hands, then to the badge hanging from her lanyard, “oh, you’re a professor. What classes do you teach?”

“Oh, uh, Literature—Romance Languages and Literature, actually.” It was then that Kara saw Lena’s badge clipped to the hem of her tight pencil skirt, and Kara looked quizzically at the name on the badge. Lena Luthor… that has a nice ring to i—wait, “You’re Lena Luthor?” She almost missed the flinch that came with her asking that particular question, almost. But Kara doesn’t mean it the way she figures Lena must have taken it. She knows all about the Luthor family, sure, but she also knows that Lena Luthor, founder of L-Corp, two Ph.D.’s, and a vast knowledge of European history that just so happens to overlap with Kara’s own knowledge of European novelists, is a new professor that she has been very excited to meet for the longest time.

So Kara gushes to Lena, actually starts to ramble on and on about her love for various European novelists, particularly Christine de Pizan, who wrote _The Book of the City of Ladies_ , which just so happens to be a source that Lena used in a paper she wrote years ago on the value of women throughout history—a paper that Kara didn’t mean to find but somehow did when she was doing some futile digging for her old boss when she was still a reporter way back when. Kara was in the middle of rambling about how she didn’t mean to be snooping through Lena’s old social media accounts when the same incessant buzzing that tore her away from the woman a week before appeared in her pants pocket.  
“I’m sorry—I have to get to my class.” She looked back into Lena’s eyes from her phone, freezing up at the awestruck stare Lena was giving her, mistaking it for horror and disbelief, “I—was that weird? I’m really sorry, I got too excited, oh gosh,”

Lena quickly shook her head, her lips slowly turning up into a smile, “no, no… I just—no one’s ever said… all of that before. I didn’t know how to respond.” She folded her arms over her chest and smiled at Kara.

“Oh. Well, good. I really have to go, I’m sorry.” There was a rushed goodbye, and Kara was zooming down the long hallways, dodging groups of students, saying hello to familiar faces. She burst through her classroom door. Kara Danvers, always the teacher to cause some kind of scene. “Hey guys!” nonetheless, there was a bright smile on her face as she taught about the beauty of Spanish literature.

A few students wanted book recommendations after class, so she stayed after to spew off some great titles for them to read—after they read the plethora of books that was already required for the class, of course. She was thinking of at least one more for the last boy in the group when a familiar voice stepped in, “ _Elective Affinities_ by Wolfgang von Geothe. It’s _brilliant_.” Lena mistook Kara’s awed expression at the fact that she, Lena Luthor, was in her classroom for unfamiliarity. “You haven’t read it?”

Kara shook her head, then grimaced and nodded, “I—yes. I have, it’s one of my favorites. Add that to your list.” She smiled at the group of kids, waving them off before turning to the woman standing before her, jawline especially sharp from the low angle Kara was at. “Lena, hi. What can I do for ya?” she was all smiles on the outside, but on the inside, everything was running a million miles a second. _Keep your cool, Kara. Why am I so nervous anyway? She’s just Lena Luthor, no big deal._

Lena moved around Kara’s desk to the extra chair to its side, raising her eyebrows in question. She sat when Kara nodded, crossing her legs at the knees. “You never got to finish your rambles, so I thought I’d catch you after your class and let you finish.” Her eyes flitted down at her hands, nervously fiddling with her fingernails, “if you’re not in a hurry to be somewhere else, of course.”

Kara flushed slightly, adjusting her glasses, “right, sorry. I ramble when I’m… well, always.” She looked at Lena and could see the hesitation in her eyes. Her nervousness was apparent in the way she pushed stray hairs behind her ear. Kara realized that Lena probably didn’t have any friends here, considering she was in a new city and people didn’t particularly see Luthor’s in a positive light. So, she started talking. Kara was determined to make Lena realize there was someone in this world that could see past her last name, because someone who’s favorite book is something so cliché as Pride & Prejudice (a fact Kara learned during her time fruitlessly digging for dirt on Lena for that ridiculous article she didn’t even want to write) absolutely cannot be evil. She just wished that other people could see that.

Kara had read so many of Lena’s papers; papers on novels that Kara knew all too well, on European history, on mechanical engineering, on progressive science, on social issues—everything. Kara was the queen of analyzing a writer’s work, and she analyzed Lena to the last comma. She knew a good deal of information about Lena from her writing, but the creator themselves are far better than any string of words they could piece together and slap on a piece of paper. And Lena was someone to discover, that much Kara knew.  
“I’m sorry for rambling… anyways.” She chuckled softly and watched Lena’s lips spread into the widest smile she’d ever seen from anyone, including herself. God, it was amazing.  
Lena covered her lips with a hand and laughed, “No one’s ever read into my papers that much, thank you.”

“Well, when I love someone’s work I put my all into it.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” Lena leaned back in her chair, her hands clenching at her sides to prevent her from nervously picking at her fingernails again. “Listen, to be honest, I don’t have many friends in National City and you’re the only one who didn’t run away once learning my last name, so…” she couldn’t quite finish her thought before Kara’s smile, the one that would surely give Lena a cataract at some point, interrupted her train of thought. “I hope we run into each other again—figuratively.”

Kara agreed with a sheepish smile. She definitely couldn’t wait for that encounter.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This chapter is kinda long, so sit back and enjoy!

The next time Kara saw Lena was later in the week.

She waited until the large group of students left the science lab before walking through the doorway, and of course, Lena was also on her way out and Kara nearly ran into her. Again.

“Kara—hello.” Lena stopped mid-step and watched the blonde standing in front of her, “I was just…”

“Right, sorry. If you’re busy I can—”

“Oh, no. I was just going to go get coffee in the commons. Care to join me?”

Kara couldn’t help but smile brightly as she nodded, accompanying Lena on her walk. The commons were a few building over near the middle of the campus, and Kara took the time to ask Lena all about her opinions on certain novelists. She found out Lena had a particular love for ancient Chinese literature, and Kara didn’t know much about it.

Lena spoke in tongue about various novels dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties, talking about how novels like _Water Margin_ and _Romance of the Three Kingdoms_ laid down the bedrock of Chinese literature. She spoke passionately about ancient folk tales that stemmed from each novel, providing one of the best history lessons Kara’s ever had.

Kara walked beside the woman, shoulder to shoulder with Lena as she spoke. She absorbed every single word, every single syllable that left vibrant red lips like a sponge. She had a sudden urge to run out and buy every single piece of Chinese literature she could get her hands on.

When they reached the commons building they paused their conversation to decide on which café to go to, deciding on the least busy one. They sat together on stools at a bar-like area and continued their conversation. Kara was happy to hear more about the history aspect of literature, but as she watched Lena talk animatedly she realized she knew next to nothing about the woman sitting beside her. She let Lena finish her thought before steering the conversation in a more personal direction. “Why didn’t you teach the ancient history course? You seem like you know plenty about all that.”

Lena let out a short chuckle, taking a sip of her coffee, “I’m no good at answering the ‘why’s’ when it comes to history. That’s a lot of inferring, whereas engineering has a specific answer for anything. You can run a few tests to figure out a problem, you know, use the scientific method to dissect something. I can’t do that with people.”

“Sure you can.” At Lena’s curious gaze, Kara elaborated, “well, there’s always a reason why people do what they do. I mean, people fall in love with certain people because they think that person will add to their well-being. People go to work every day so they can make money. A bird flies so they can reach a destination. There’s always a reason.”

Lena nods deliberately, mulling over Kara’s words, “I don’t think it’s that simple.”

“Well, not if you get all psychologic, no. But I don’t think I’d be teaching if I didn’t get paid… I mean, I really, _really_ love teaching, don’t get me wrong… but a paycheck helps.”

“I’ll just stick to teaching biochemical engineering.” Lena chuckled.

Kara shrugged, deciding that that was probably best. She moved the topic to something else, but nothing too personal. She could tell Lena’s walls were still tall, and Kara would have to gradually climb them. She asked Lena about her company, learning that Lena was still CEO, but she had her current CFO standing in for her while she spent time teaching. She’d occasionally drop by the office for a meeting and for checkups.

It was nice not having to worry too much about L-Corp, Lena confessed. Although, sometimes she missed the late nights in her office going through schematics, tweaking calculations and solving problems for her engineering department. The downside to being CEO was she didn’t get the opportunity to go down to the basement and get her hands dirty very often. Most of her days were spent In her office sifting through emails and signing paper after paper. Her day to day life was mundane.

“You’re an excellent businesswoman, though. I remember reading about that deal where you merged your company with R&D. That was huge!” Kara nudged Lena’s shoulder, a proud smile on her face.

Lena felt her face heat up, and she looked down at her hands that were wrapped around her coffee cup, “please, that was mostly my CFO.”

“Still, you’ve done so much good for this city. The air is twenty percent cleaner now than a few years ago ever since you patented that air filter. Factories are implementing products— _your_ products! _Your_ designs.” Kara leaned back in her chair, motioning towards Lena as if she was trying to say _‘duh’._ She paused for a moment and just admired Lena, soaking in all those little things about her she didn’t notice before; like the scar above her left eyebrow, the dark green ring around her irises, the three freckles on her neck. “No one else could have come up with these ideas. Just _your_ brain. It’s all you, Lena.”

A laugh escaped Lena’s lips. She knew full well no one could come up with the things that she has, but that didn’t mean someone couldn’t do something else and come up with similar results. There were so many other brilliant minds out there, and Lena Luthor knew that if it wasn’t her, it would be them. She was aiming high—higher than all of those brilliant minds because one day the Luthor name wouldn’t be unmentionable. “You’re flattering me a little too much.”

“Oh, sorry. I just—I get so excited.” Kara flushed slightly.

“Relax, Kara. It’s not a bad thing.” Lena sipped at her coffee, “It’s actually quite adorable.” She could see Kara flustering at the compliment, and Lena had to work a little hard to not giggle at the sight of the blonde's cheeks growing pinker by the second. Lena pushed her coffee out of the way and rested her elbow on the bar, turning to face Kara, “what about you? Miss Danvers, voted number top teacher in the English department three years in a row… you have a vast knowledge about novels, old and new, and you _used_ to be a reporter…”

Kara blew air out of her cheeks, “yeah, huh. That’s all true, I guess.”

“Why did you quit reporting?” The question was short and demanding, almost.

Kara had no idea why she was so nervous to answer, but she was. She trod carefully, trying not to say anything bad about CatCo, even though there wasn’t really anything bad to say. Kara just didn’t want to write about drama for the rest of her life. She wanted to _teach._ She wanted to spread knowledge and share the thousands of different universes that ended up being her safe place as a young girl when she lost everything. Her parents died, and sure, she was adopted immediately and taken in by a loving family that she’s proud to call her own, but being twelve years old and going from having parents one day and none the next was devastating. Every single novel she read took her to a whole new world where dead parents weren’t an issue. Kara was happy during the hours it took her to read those books, and she wanted to give that to other people.

As Lena listened to Kara’s story, learned about her parent's death, found out about her adoptive sister and mother, she realized that her and Kara Danvers had more in common than she thought.

Kara Danvers experienced an immense amount of pain and hurt, but she still had a smile on her face _every single time_ Lena saw her. Her smile carried enough warmth in it to prevent someone from dying of hypothermia. Her laugh passed along the sound that could cure deafness.

Lena realized just how lucky she was to run into someone like Kara Danvers. She was thankful she walked down that hallway when she did, even thankful for the bruise she got on her shoulder from Kara accidentally hitting it hard enough to cause Lena to fall to the ground.

They talked for what seemed like hours but was actually just under one. Lena glanced down at her phone and noted the time, “I have a seminar in twenty minutes… I should get back.” She saw Kara’s devastated pout, chuckling quietly to herself. She opted to make plans with Kara—brunch the coming up Saturday, and they walked back to Lena’s classroom together.

“Great, well… I’ll see you at eleven on Saturday?”

“Of course. Thank you for coming with me, Kara.”

Kara fiddled with her glasses, a lopsided smile spreading across her lips, “no… no, it’s—I had fun. Thank you.”

They stood in the doorway of Lena’s classroom a beat too long, and Kara had to remind herself that Lena had a seminar she needed to go to, stepping back. She said one final goodbye and left, her heart pounding in her chest.

Kara was excited. Way too excited.

 

* * *

 

 

Kara and Alex had very busy schedules, but they both always managed to have Thursday nights free. So every Thursday night they would find themselves together in either Kara’s living room or Alex’s.

It was Kara’s turn to host her sister, so she ordered the pizzas and picked up the beer, grabbing herself some sodas, on the way home from work.

Alex was already lounging on Kara’s couch when she walked into her apartment. “Hey,”

“Hey sis.” She waited for Kara to join her on the couch before wrapping her arm around Kara’s shoulder and pressing a kiss to her temple. “How’s work been?”

Kara broke out into a smile, taking a deep breath before ranting on about her week. The difference between her being a reporter and her being a literature teacher was that she had a more direct way to see the impact of her work while being a teacher. She could see the spark ignite in her student’s eyes, but she couldn’t see her readers. The only interaction she had with anyone who read her articles for CatCo was the occasional comment on the page, but that still wasn’t much. She’d been told the number of readers on each of her articles, and sure the number always surprised her, but did people like them? Hate them? She had no idea.

Teaching was just so… rewarding. Just the other day a student snagged her after class and told Kara that one of the books they were reading for the curriculum was actually one of her favorites, that the book took her out of a dark place and helped her rediscover the beauty in life. _That_ is the reason Kara teaches. It was gratifying.

She purposefully saved mentioning Lena for last. Kara knew that as soon as Alex heard anything about a Luthor she would insist she had to have been exactly like her family. She would tell Kara not to trust her, and that’s exactly what Alex did.

“Oh, come on Alex! She’s nothing like them, I _know_ it.” Alex gave her a disbelieving look, “I trust her.”

“Kara, you barely even know her!” Alex pleaded.

Kara knew that Alex was just worried, but Lena was nothing like her brother. She was a smart woman with a successful company, and her employee satisfaction rate was double that of all of the big companies in the area. She was kind, compassionate, and she was well spoken, and she took her coffee with a _lot_ of almond milk. “I’ve spent time with her, Alex. Can you just—can you have a little faith in my judgment? Please?”

Alex sank back into the couch, sighing deeply. “Fine—but not one hundred percent. Not until I meet her.”

“Deal!” Kara wrapped an arm around her sister's shoulders and squeezed her tight, “I’ll invite her over next Thursday.”

It dawned on Kara after she’d finished almost an entire pizza and was midconversation with Alex that she actually had to invite Lena over. Alex agreed to let Kara host again next week, but Kara was still a bit panicked. How do you ask someone like Lena over? What if she was busy on Thursday? Oh gosh, she’d only known Lena a little over a week and she was already going to ask her to meet her sister… was this too fast? It was probably too fast.

“Kara. You’re thinking too loud.”

“Sorry.” Kara took a huge bite of pizza and watched the people on TV. Alex had put on a movie that just came out on DVD, insisting Kara would like it.

Alex grabbed a blanket from the end of the couch and draped it over her and Kara’s laps. “If she’s as nice as you think she is, you have nothing to worry about.”

She was right. Kara was worrying way too much.

 

* * *

 

 

Scratch that—Alex was entirely wrong. Very wrong.

She was sitting with Lena at a lab table that they technically shouldn’t be eating at but were anyways, and Kara hadn’t eaten much of her sandwich because she was too busy freaking out. Lena, on the other hand, was talking about a few of her students who managed to create a new algorithm for some machinery that Kara had no idea what their purpose was.

Lena must have sensed Kara’s stressed out state because she set down her fork and cleared her throat, “Are you alright, Kara? You haven’t eaten hardly anything, and you’ve got that crinkle.” She pointed at the middle part of her own forehead to indicate where the crinkle was.

Kara wiggled in her stool, straightening up, “I’m fine! I, uh… Actually, I have something to ask you.” She waited for Lena’s indication to continue before taking a breath to steel herself, “well, every Thursday my sister and I have a movie night, and I told her that I met you and she wanted me to invite you to the next one… so…”

Lena smiled softly, “do you want me to come?” her tone was gentle, reassuring almost.

Kara nodded, “I’d love it if you came.”

“Then yes. What do I bring?”

Kara’s heart soared at Lena’s agreement. Excitement settled in the base of her stomach, and a bright smile adorned her lips. “Great! Um, whatever you want should be good. I usually just get food and drinks, so if you want anything specific just let me know.”

“Why don’t I bring the drinks?”

Kara shrugged, “sure, if you want to.”

A smug smile spread across Lena's lips, drawing in Kara's gaze, "great. Let's go over the details tomorrow."

 

* * *

 

 

 

They’d gone over the details over brunch the next day. Lena had taken Kara to a brand new restaurant just a few minutes from campus. Kara was surprised to see a good amount of NCU students filtered throughout the restaurant. She was even more shocked to see that one of her old students was a hostess, and suddenly a forty minute wait turned into ten.  _'I'll have to leave her a tip or something on my way out...'_ Kara decided.

Lena had decided she needed to get Alex top-shelf liquor, but she didn't know whether to get Alex scotch or whiskey.

“I don’t think she’d care. You don’t need to go out of your way for anything, Lena. She’d be happy with cheap beer.” She shrugged, taking a bite of her eggs. 

Lena responded with, “Noted. I’ll bring that too, then” and bit into her sandwich, a grin spreading across her lips when Kara rolled her eyes at her.

Between the questions about movie night, Kara and Lena would take about trivial things, like what Lena’s favorite food was (anything _but_ fish, particularly salmon), what her favorite color was (sapphire blue, much to Kara’s surprise), and her favorite song (she played Come Out and Play on repeat in her college dorm when it first came out).

Kara reminded Lena that it would just be the three of them and they didn’t need too much.

They'd both gone home after brunch, and by eight o'clock Kara finished grading her student's reports on a novel by Fernando Pessoa. She should have started tweaking the outline for the next section they were going to start, but texting Lena was a bit more interesting than figuring out which set of French novels she wanted to teach about for their section on French languages. It wasn’t until she was trying to fall asleep that Lena texted her, telling Kara to _“have sweet dreams”_ that Kara realized she wouldn’t be getting any sleep whatsoever because the only thing going through her head was Lena. Lena and her sharp jawline. Lena and her silky black hair and perfect eyebrows. Lena and her eyes that reminded Kara of the garden Eliza had in their backyard, and her cherry red lips, and ‘ _gosh, I need to stop. I need to go to sleep’_ Kara tried for hours, justifying her thoughts with _‘I’m just excited for Thursday’._

Except she spent most nights up until Wednesday night like that. She was exhausted during classes. Luckily, none of her students seemed to notice, but still, Kara felt bad that she wasn’t running her lectures with as much gusto as she normally did.

Kara thought she was hiding her exhaustion well, but as soon as Lena sat down in the chair next to Kara’s desk, she knew. “Have you been sleeping?” Lena had leaned forward to study Kara, entirely in the blonde’s personal space.

Kara cleared her throat, straightening her already perfect glasses, “um, not really. I’ve been busy… grading essays.” Which wasn’t entirely untrue. Except she always finished grading everything by ten… but Lena didn’t need to know that.

“Kara… you look exhausted. Should we cancel movie night?”

“No! No… that’s—I’m okay, really. I’ve been looking forward to tonight… I’d hate to cancel.”

Lena hummed, scooting her chair just a little bit closer to Kara’s to look directly at her eyes, “Okay, but, we’re not due to come over until six, so why don’t you go home now and take a nap?”

Kara looked at the clock on her computer. It was three, and she didn’t have anymore lectures that day… “okay, sure. I guess I could use one.”

“You could definitely use one.” They laughed, and Lena stood up, Kara following suit. Kara gathered all of her things and Lena waited for her before walking with her out of the classroom, hugging her goodbye. “I’ll see you later. Get some rest beforehand, please.”

“I will, thank you.”

 

* * *

 

 

Kara woke up to a pillow being thrown at her face, Alex standing just above her. “Get up, Lena’s in the living room and I can’t make small talk.”

Kara blinked slowly, frowning at the clock on her nightstand. “It’s six-fifteen…” she didn’t understand why anyone would be at her apartment at six in the morning. Except it wasn’t the morning. It was nighttime, and Kara suddenly remembered that it was still Thursday and it was movie night with Alex _and_ Lena, and _‘oh god, I have to change’._ She shot out of bed and ran into her bathroom, brushing her hair and fumbling around for her glasses, which she left on her nightstand, of course.

When she appeared in the living room, Alex and Lena were sitting across from each other on Kara’s couches. “Hey, sorry—I was, uh.” She sat down next to Lena, “sleeping.”

“Yeah, good thing I got here early and could let her in because you were _knocked.”_ Alex and Lena both laughed, and Kara felt her cheeks heat up.

Lena stopped laughing to meet Kara’s gaze, “I’m glad you got some rest.”

“Yeah,” Kara scoffed, “I definitely needed it.”

When everyone grew silent, Alex stood up and clapped her hands together, drawing the attention of both women, “great, well… Kara, now that we’re all present. Food? Drinks?”

Kara realized that she never went to get food, the look on her face making that _very_ apparent.

“I’ll order takeout.” She padded off to the kitchen to grab her phone out of her purse, and Lena followed.

She picked up the paper bags she set down by the counter, waiting for Kara to come sit down at the island to open them up, “Kara refused to tell me if you like scotch or whiskey, so I got both… and Corona.” She scooted the bottled to Alex, who was resting her elbows on the counter as she scrolled through different restaurants to order from.

Alex’s eyes lit up at the sight of booze, and she grabbed the two bottles of top shelf alcohol, smiling widely at Lena, “you don’t know what you just got yourself into, Luthor.”

She didn’t say Lena’s last name like everyone else. It wasn’t condescending or detestable, it was said in a way that made Lena out to be her own person. It was refreshing to Lena. Still, there was a hint of a challenge behind Alex’s words, and she couldn’t wait to see what it was, “enlighten me, Danvers.”

Kara didn’t bother to get in their way, opting to order the food while Alex and Lena opened the bottles and grabbed shot glasses from the cabinets. It was going to be a _very_ interesting night.

What Lena got herself into was five rounds of shots with a beer here and there. Her and Alex were _very_ drunk, but luckily after years of late night drinking, Lena knew how to handle herself under the influence.

Alex was proving to be just at good at handling her alcohol. They both were at the point where they were slurring their words, but they knew they could drink more. They would have drank until the other was on the ground complete blacked out if they had the chance, but Kara stepped in after they took their sixth shot and reminded them that she went out and bought Mama Mia specifically for tonight.

They’d gotten their takeout, Kara hoarding every single pot sticker, and everyone settled down on the couches, blankets wrapped around their bodies and they finally started the movie.

Lena had never seen the movie. She rarely saw any movies over the past few years, actually, so when Kara burst into song along with the women on screen, she couldn’t help but watch Kara belt her heart out to the music. Lena’s eyes shot open at the sheer _power_ of Kara’s voice. The sound resonated in her ears and left a tingly feeling in her stomach. Alex joined her on some parts, having a gorgeous voice as well. The sight of the Danvers sisters singing passionately along to the songs was better than the movie itself, and Lena found her attention glued to the two women during any scene with a song. She hardly knew what was going on in the movie, but she sure well knew that Alex and Kara were quite the duo.

It wasn’t until Kara and Alex started to sing along to a particular song that Lena’s heart started to really act up.

Kara was bouncing in her spot right next to Lena, singing loudly while watching the movie, occasionally looking at Lena while singing, _“you say that I waste my time,”_ she looked right into Lena’s eyes, leaning in close to her, her hands gripping Lena’s shoulder as she sang, _“but I can’t get you off my mind”_ her hands left Lena’s shoulder and moved to grab her hands, and Kara raised them just in front of her chest, _“no I cant let go!”_ she gave their hands a good shake, _“cause I love you so.”_

When Kara let go of her hands, turning to point enthusiastically at Alex as she sang, Lena let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. That was oddly… intense. She turned her attention to the screen and watched the people on the screen jump up and down as a crowd, her heart matching the beat of the music. She didn’t know if that sound in her ears was the bass of the music or her own heartbeat.

The movie ended soon after, and Lena had calmed down significantly. It was only nine at night and no one was quite tired. Alex took it upon herself to get Kara in on the shots, and they all sat on the floor around Kara’s coffee table and drank.

“You know, when Kara told me she befriended you I thought she made a mistake… but you’re—” Alex paused to hiccup, the alcohol catching up to her, “you’re badass. You have my full support, Luthor.”

Lena was drunk. She could tell because tears actually started to pool in her eyes, and she had to work ridiculously hard to blink them back, because _wow,_ no one has said that to her in a very, _very_ long time. Not since her father died—not since her life wasn’t in a downward spiral.

Lena had a feeling that very spiral was starting to turn around, and it had everything to do with the two women sitting on the floor with her.

“You have mine, too. Like, all of it. Every single drop of love and support I have will just… trickle down on you.” Kara flopped over and rested her head on Lena’s shoulder, haphazardly trying to pull Lena into a hug.

Alex awed at the sight and scooted over so she was on Lena’s other side, joining in on the hug. “You get a good ol’ Danvers sandwich. Congrats.”

Lena didn’t know how to respond so she simply looked up, a huge lump forming in her throat, and let a few tears trickle down the sides of her face. She was so _happy._ Lena had exactly zero idea how to handle her own emotions in that moment because the tears just didn’t stop, and she held both girl’s hands that were resting on her shoulders, her head falling to hide her face.

She decided that she would do everything she could to protect Kara Danvers—to only contribute to Kara’s happiness and well-being, and to never be the reason she has a bad day.

Lena would let her in—more than she already had… but maybe in the morning because there was no way Lena could stay awake much longer. Tonight had been fun, but it was still rather taxing to the Luthor. She decided to think more when she was sober, because for now she really needed to ask Kara where she could crash.

Her life would have to start in the morning.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to go back and re-edit this chapter later but I thought I'd just put it out to get the story going

 

A sharp sting hit the side of Kara’s head, and she rolled onto her side, gripping desperately at her forehead to try and ease searing headache she had. She let out a groan when the pain didn’t stop, her eyes lazily blinking open.

Well, she definitely wasn’t in her own bed—or in a bed at _all._ She stood up from her living room floor and looked around, her hand finding its way to her forehead as she shielded her eyes from any excessive light. She needed water. Maybe a couple frozen waffles, too. And a few biscuits as well…

She’d just put syrup over her waffles when she heard a sudden thud coming from her bedroom, and she was in the doorway within seconds, “who’s there—oh,” she found Lena on the floor, tangled in a mess of blankets, pillows covering her body. “Lena? Are you alright?” she rushed over to her, trying to help a groggy Lena untangle herself from the web of blankets.

When Lena was finally free, she was much more awake, and wow did she look… “why are you laughing?”

Kara tried not to laugh—she really, _really_ tried… but Lena’s hair was sticking out in every direction and her lipstick was smudged clear across her face, and it was just really hard not to giggle when she looked so… disheveled, to say the least. “No reason, just… um,” she pointed to her own lips to indicate Lena had something there, opting to just go grab her a makeup wipe.

She had to hold in a scream of surprise when she left her bedroom and saw Alex passed out on the couch—wondering how on earth she missed her.

Kara handed Lena a makeup wipe and a brush, plopping down on her bed while Lena fixed herself. She had a class in a few hours, but Kara decided to cancel it. “Did you have any classes today?”

Lena twisted her hair in a messy bun, “I have one in a couple hours, but I think it’d be best if I cancel it… I don’t feel particularly well at the moment.” She grimaced when she saw her face in a mirror, wiping the streak of red off her face. “I still have to go to the office later to see what Sam’s been up to.” She grumbled, mostly to herself, but Kara could still hear her.

“Sam… She’s the one who’s running L-Corp right now…?” Lena hummed, and Kara pursed her lips, deciding if she wanted to ask the next question formulating in her mind or not… “how long have you known her?”

Lena turned around from where she was standing, raising her eyebrows at Kara. For a moment, Kara thought she’d asked something too personal and she was regretting asking, but Lena sat down on the bed by Kara’s legs and shrugged, “long enough for me to trust her with my company… I actually went to Metropolis University with her before she transferred to National City. I didn’t know her personally at the time, but she seemed nice from what I gathered.”

Kara nodded, turning on her side to face Lena better, “so you ran into her again at some point, I assume?”

“I did,” Lena moved to lay down, and Kara scooted over to let Lena lay next to her, “she was working for a company that I bought out. I had to visit their office a few times a week to do my own research on their methods of operation, and Sam was always there working ridiculously hard—harder than anyone there. I knew she had a child and was struggling to make ends meet… and my CFO had some family issues that caused her to have to leave so… I took Sam in and gave her a new job. Now here we are.” Lena smiled and looked over at Kara, her heart beating just a tad bit faster at how close she realized her and Kara were.

Kara had noticed the close proximity as well, and she swallowed hard. “She sounds strong.”

Lena hummed in agreement, “she is. Very.” There was a long pause, and Lena watched Kara’s eyes wander around, deep blue orbs bouncing around lazily to observe different parts of Lena, and it was then that Lena remembered that Kara had been kind enough to let her meet someone dear to Kara’s heart. Lena should try to do the same—try to let Kara in on one of the better parts of her life. She did consider Sam a good friend, but despite the frequent visits to the office, Lena didn’t get to talk to Sam about anything other than work very often these days. “Would you like to come with me tonight? To meet her?”

Kara didn’t respond immediately, just watched Lena’s emerald eyes staring back at her, looking for any indication that she was kidding. “Seriously?” Lena nodded slightly, “I—yeah. I’d love to!” A smile broke out across her face, and she quickly realized that Kara wasn’t exactly the one for serious business meetings, “are you sure? I don’t know anything about how businesses operate… I couldn’t contribute to the conversation _at all.”_

Giggling, Lena nudged Kara’s shoulder, “I already know how my company is functioning, Kara. We won’t be discussing L-Corp much, if at all. It’ll just be a normal conversation… like last night.”

“Will there be alcohol? Because I don’t know if I can drink anymore for the next week…”

Lena chuckled, “I’ll make sure there isn’t, don’t worry.”

“Great,” both of their attention went to the dull thud that sounded in Kara’s living room followed by a crash and a very agitated sounding Alex hissing _“ow, shit,”_ rather loudly.

Kara gave Lena a sheepish smile and they both made their way to the living room to see Alex straightening Kara’s coffee table out, a short glass split clean in two resting on the table, “I didn’t do that.”

“Uh, you definitely did that.” Kara laughed, picking up the two pieces of glass to go throw them away.

“Shut up.” Alex grumbled, hissing in pain when she turned around and faced direct sunlight. She must have had a headache as well.

Kara made them all frozen waffles, helping both women find all their belongings just before they left.  She and Lena agreed that Lena would pick Kara up later, Alex stating that this ‘Sam girl’ is free to join them on their next movie night, but _only_ if Kara thought she was worthy enough to join the inner circle.

When Kara was alone, she grabbed a glass of water and headed to her bedroom. The only thing her mind could focus on was the pounding in her head, and she closed her eyes, falling into a deep slumber after suffering through a few long minutes of searing pain.

 

* * *

 

 

Kara woke up from her nap a little after noon, and she felt significantly better. She took into account every single reason why she didn’t drink alcohol often as the memories of the previous night came flooding in.

She remembered singing so passionately and carelessly in front of Lena. She remembered being touchy, and loud, and giggly… Kara definitely shouldn’t be allowed to drink alcohol. Ever. She’d have to remember to apologize to Lena when she saw her later, but for now, Kara resolved to get a few things done around her apartment while she felt up to it.

Brittany Spears blasting, Kara danced around her apartment and cleaned what she’d been procrastinating for a few weeks, feeling extremely satisfied when she wiped all of the dust off of surfaces she rarely touched. She put water and vanilla extract in an oven-safe coffee mug and set it on a pan in her oven, heating it up while she finished cleaning. By the time she was finished, she’d gone through an entire 90’s pop playlist and her apartment smelled heavily of warm vanilla.

She collapsed in a satisfied ball on her couch and decompressed, pulling out her phone.

A text from Lena showed in her notifications and Kara clicked it immediately, _“Sam is looking forward to meeting you. We were thinking of having dinner in the office, is that okay with you?”_

Kara would never turn down food, _“absolutely! I’ll take whatever you think I’ll like. I trust your judgment.”_

_“I feel honored”_

Kara chuckled and swiped out of their conversation, seeing a text from James just under Lena’s name. _“Hey, could I borrow your kitchen? I’m doing photoshoots for Karen’s article on local décor and I may have let it slip how homey your kitchen looks.”_

Kara _did_ just finish a two hour deep clean of her apartment… and she hadn’t seen James in forever… _“sure! You know my address.”_

_“Sweet, see you soon.”_

 

* * *

 

 

Kara sat in her living room while James set up a few lights just outside Kara’s little kitchen, “why isn’t she writing about, you know, rich people’s kitchen or something? I mean, mine is cute, but it’s not extravagant or anything.” Kara watched James fiddle with his camera as she lay on her couch.

“She wants to showcase realistic lifestyles, and I don’t think kitchens that look too good to even cook on are very realistic.” He shrugged, looking back at Kara when he finished messing with his camera, “I need you in the shot, too.”

“wait, what?” Kara sat up, the crinkle James was all too familiar with evident in her brow, “I thought you just needed my—you know…” she gestured towards the kitchen, “old-timey kitchen… not _me.”_

James raised his eyebrows at her and held up his hands defensively, “I didn’t think you’d agree if I mentioned that part… Plus, come on Kara. You look fine.” When Kara gave him an incredulous look he backed down slightly, “okay, here. I’ll give you time to freshen up or whatever and I’ll steal one of the beers in your fridge and watch TV.”

Kara groaned and got up, “you’re lucky I have somewhere to be later that requires me to get ready for anyways.” She grumbled as she stalked off to her bedroom. It only took her twenty minutes to get ready for the rest of her night, and she walked in on James watching a documentary she wasn’t familiar with.

They made their way to Kara’s kitchen and James moved one of her stools to the opposite side of the small island in her kitchen so Kara could sit and be at an acceptable level with the counter. “Rest your chin in your hand—like you’re watching a boring lecture in high school all over again. Don’t look bored, though.”

Kara did what James told her to, the lights facing her were slightly blinding as she watched James put the camera to his face and take a few shots, trying her best to look content.

James stepped back and looked at his camera, “So… what did you have to dress up for anyway?” he pushed a few buttons and focused on Kara.

“I’m meeting a friend’s friend tonight.” She sat up and folded her arms on the counter, smiling when James instructed her to.

He snapped a few photos, adjusting his camera, “a _friend?_ ” he said after the click of the shudder sounded. “Do you always try to look this nice when meeting a _friend’s_ friend?”

Kara could feel her cheeks redden, and she looked to the side to prevent James from seeing her face. _Click._ She frowned at him when he smirked at her from behind his camera, “she’s just another teacher, James.”

He didn’t push any further, just stepped back and turned off his portrait lights, sifting through the images on his camera. “Well, I’ll get out of your hair so you can finish getting ready.” He packed everything up in his bag and stepped towards Kara to wrap her in a hug, “thanks for letting me drop by so suddenly. You and Alex should come have drinks with Winn and I next weekend… get the gang back together for a night. You can even bring your little friend.”

Kara nodded, letting James know she’d let him know later on. She still had just over an hour before Lena would be there to pick her up, so Kara plopped down on her couch and pulled out her computer, getting started on reviewing some papers some of her students had turned in early.

 

* * *

 

 

Lena came and got Kara later that evening, blushing when Kara gave her an incredulous look, “wow, I—can I even _sit_ in these seats? I feel like I’m not even allowed to have my shoes on in this car.”

Chuckling, Lena pulled into the street and took them both to L-Corp. She let Kara take reign of the stereo and couldn’t help but smile when Kara found the oldies station that would occasionally play old Justin Timberlake or Brittany Spears songs.

Kara had started to bop her head up and down to the song, humming quietly to herself. The smooth tone of her voice was starting to become Lena’s favorite sound. She didn’t realize she was smiling at Kara until Kara caught her, nudging her head at the light that had turned green. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

She’d began to pull out her phone to try and see what it was that could be on her face, not realizing she hadn’t eaten since lunch quite a few hours ago. “No, no. I was just thinking of how much I love your voice.” Lena hummed, turning down the street L-Corp was on.

Kara mumbled out a thanks, a hand coming up to her searing hot cheek as she looked out the window. She didn’t know why she was blushing so hard, but _wow…_ Lena just admitted to loving her voice and it was way too nice. Way too kind. Gosh, what a genuinely _sweet_ person. She asked Kara if she was okay when Kara was silent for so long, and Kara looked back at Lena with big blue eyes and a blinding smile, “I’m perfect!”

“Good, well,” Lena pulled into a parking space, gesturing out the window to the tall building next to them, “we’ve arrived. Welcome to L-Corp, Miss Danvers.” Lena winked, and Kara was certain her heart skipped a beat.

They walked through the doors, the women at the front desk giving Lena a huge smile when they spotted her, making brief conversation as Lena stopped at the desk to grab a couple of files.

Everyone they’d encountered on their way to the top floor greeted Lena the same way her secretaries did. It was all, “good evening, Miss Luthor! We’ve missed you, Miss Luthor! Happy to see you again, Miss Luthor!” and it was very heartwarming to see how much her staff seemed to genuinely love her. Lena had such a warm, inviting smile when she talked to her employees, making time for everyone who needed it. She apologized to Kara when she’d get hung up in a conversation, but Kara didn’t mind in the slightest.  She loved seeing Lena like this—like she was exactly where she wanted to be.

It wasn’t until they were standing right outside the door to Lena’s old office that Kara started to freak out. It was nothing major, but suddenly the thought of her meeting one of Lena’s closest friends was intimidating her.

Lena’s hand rested gently on Kara’s arm, her emerald eyes laced with gentleness as she watched Kara, “nervous?”

The spot where her hand was almost felt like it was physically burning and Kara simply nodded, her cheeks reddening at the admission.

“Don’t be. Sam likes to call me a big softie but she’s far worse than me.” Lena gave Kara’s arm a reassuring squeeze before opening the huge white doors, leading Kara into the office.

A woman with long brunette hair and chocolate eyes looked up from her spot behind the round white desk, smiling widely at the familiar face. “Lena, hey!” She stood up and rounded the table, hugging her friend. She didn’t hesitate to grab Kara’s hand in both of hers, giving it a tight squeeze, “and you must be the infamous Kara Danvers,”

Kara chuckled, “that would be me!” She gently elbowed Lena’s side, “sounds like someone talks about me.” She teased.

“Only a little.”

“Only every time she calls me.” Sam laughed at Lena’s glare, turning around to grab some files off her desk and hand them to Lena. “Alright, let’s get to it… these are the copies of last years budget, and those are some projects that I want you to review and hopefully approve,” the phone on the desk started to ring, and Sam smiled brightly at the two women, “and that would be the food.”

A look of pure happiness adorned Kara’s face causing both Sam and Lena to chuckle. None of them would be surprised if Kara agreed to come tonight for the sole reason she’d been promised potstickers.

Sam was given careful instruction by Lena to order double what she would normally eat, and then add another portion to that for good measure, because Kara could put away a _lot._ It was mesmerizing how good Kara looked because good god, she _really_ ate everything Sam got her. She didn’t believe Lena when she said Kara could eat that much up until Kara sank into the white cushions next to Lena, a stack of empty containers on the table towering over all of Sam and Lena’s combined.

Lena shrugged when Sam raised her eyebrows at her, silently asking _‘how is that possible?’_

“Kara, do you go to the gym or… anything?” Kara had to do some kind of extensive exercises because no human could actually put away that much food. Maybe Crossfit? She had to be doing Crossfit.

Kara shrugged, “sometimes… maybe three times a week.” She looked up to see both women watching her with looks of sheer terror, and Kara laughed, “I have a fast metabolism… and I _really_ love potstickers.”

Sam decided that some things were best left alone, and Kara’s ability to eat more than an entire family was going to have to be one of them. As soon as they got past that whole ordeal, they fell into comfortable conversation. Sam was more than happy to talk about her daughter, happy to hear Kara say how much she loved children.

“My sister, too—Alex. She loves kids way more than me.” Kara had turned in her spot to face Sam a little better, her knee pressed against Lena’s bare skin. She had to keep reminding herself to ignore it as she talked to Sam, but it became increasingly difficult when Lena’s skin seemed to get warmer and warmer.

“Well, Ruby hasn’t seen Lena in a while… maybe next time we have a meeting we could do It at my house and you and Alex could come. I’m sure Ruby would love to meet you guys.” Sam raised her eyebrows at Kara’s hesitant stare, silently taking the choice away from her.

“I’ll have to tell her to take the night off.” Kara smiled at both Sam and Lena, her brain short-circuiting when Lena smiled at her and placed a warm hand on Kara’s knee, squeezing it firmly. Her eyes flitted down to the hand on her knee, the bones in Lena’s hands perfectly visible as it stretched over the expanse of her kneecap. She swallowed, hard. Kara shouldn’t be enjoying that feeling as much as she was.

Sam started talking about Ruby again, Lena’s hand never moving from Kara’s knee. Kara could hardly focus on what Sam was saying from her end of the couch because Lena’s thumb swiped across the fabric covering Kara’s knee once… twice… and she just _kept_ doing it. It was driving Kara crazy, but she wasn’t in the mood to remove the hand.

It wasn’t until the conversation had finished and they’d deemed it time to get going that Lena removed her hand, everyone standing to say their goodbyes.

“It was really nice meeting you, Kara. Keep her out of trouble.” Sam hugged the blonde, pulling Lena into her own hug at Lena’s indignant scoff, “I’ll let you know a good night for everyone to come over.”

Lena hummed and gave Sam a good squeeze before they let go, saying their final goodbyes. She took Kara home, missing Kara’s soft humming when she left her car.

 

* * *

 

 

Kara stepped into her apartment and instantly went to her room, pulling out her phone and calling Alex immediately.

_“Kara? Hey, how was tonight?”_

Kara’s heartbeat grew rapid as she thought about Lena’s hand on her knee, and her vibrant green eyes in the low light of the car, and the column of her neck bobbing as she swallowed, eyes glassy when Kara looked up at her from her spot on the couch. Oh gosh, she was in so much trouble.

“I think I have a crush on Lena.” Kara blurted out, grimacing when she realized she’d said that out loud. To her sister. _Way to go, Kara._


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A shortie but a goodie. I'll have another chapter up real soon!

Lena was sitting in her home office entering her students grade into the computer. She was happy to see that all of her students were passing her class with flying colors. When she made the decision to pass on her knowledge to students she was worried her students wouldn’t be able to get past the fact she’s a Luthor, and at first, they were a little apprehensive. She ignored the hushed whispers the first few days, deciding to prove to everyone she was there as nothing more than a professor—as someone who wanted her students to learn a subject that would point them in a direction that could bring success.

Most of her students had huge goals—goals that Lena had when she was in their position. It didn’t take her students long to realize Lena was an excellent teacher who had their best interest at heart. She stayed after class to help students figure out sections of labs they didn’t understand, even going as far as to offer students who failed a lab a chance to redo it and get back half the points they missed. Most teachers didn’t do this for their students—just lectured, assigned bookwork, and went home. That’s not what Lena wanted at all.

She didn’t realize she’d love teaching this much, but she really enjoyed being able to pass on her knowledge. The only downside to the whole ‘being a college professor’ thing was all the papers she had to grade. The number of papers she had to go through each night almost had L-Corp beat.

Lena sat back in her chair with a sigh when the last grade was entered, stretching her arms above her head, “I should get a TA…” she grumbled to herself. She’d have to tough it out until the next semester.

Her phone interrupted her thought process and she picked it up to see a message from Kara, _“quick question. Do you and Sam want to come out and have drinks with Alex and I? A few of our friends will be there too, so if you don’t want to I’ll understand.”_

Lena’s immediate thought was definitely _not._ She wasn’t particularly thrilled with the thought of drinking around new people, but Alex and Kara would be there… and Sam if she was free. Lena knew she should _probably_ say yes and at least try. _“Can I ask who your friends are before I say yes?”_

_“Sure! Just Winn and James, they’re both friends from CatCo. James is CatCo’s Art Director and Winn is the head controls engineer. We’d love it if you guys joined us!”_

How could Lena say no? _“I’d love to, Kara. I’ll see if Sam can make it.”_

 _“Great!”_ she sent a plethora of heart emojis that made Lena giggle then texted her the address.

What did she just get herself into?

 

* * *

 

Lena visited Sam at L-Corp that Saturday, throwing herself onto the couch as soon as she entered her old office. “Do you think Ruby could spend the night at a friends house on Saturday?” She grumbled into the throw pillow.

Sam moved Lena’s legs aside so she could sit down, “sure, why? What are we doing?”

“We are going out with Kara and her sister to have drinks with their friends.” Lena shifted so she was sitting up, tucking her legs underneath her.

Sam hummed and stood up, fetching a glass of scotch from Lena’s old stash and bringing over two glasses, “so I take it you’re brooding because you’re stressed out over meeting new people?”

“I am _not_ brooding…” Lena took the glass Sam filled for her and sipped at the dark liquid, clenching her jaw at the sharp burn in her throat as she swallowed, “I’m stressed, though. I’ll give you that.”

Sam chuckled and took a sip of her drink, sinking back into the couch to frown slightly at Lena, “you’re definitely stressing out too much. I guarantee it’s going to be the complete opposite of what you’re thinking. I mean, It’s Kara Danvers, her sister and, what, a few of their friends?” Lena shrugged, and Sam threw a hand up in Lena’s direction, “Right, so if Kara and her sister, who you’ve met—you _know,_ are any indication of what kind of people they’ll attract, what could be so bad about them?”

“Alright, okay. You have a point.” Lena took another sip of her drink, swishing the liquid around in her cup as she tried to bring herself down from her inward panic session. “It’s just—what if they don’t like me because of my family?”

That is exactly what Sam figured Lena was anxious over. “Well… you’re not your family. If I can see that—If Kara can see that, then I don’t see why the people closest to her wouldn’t be able to as well.” She pulled Lena into a side hug and squeezed her tight, “we’ll be your cheerleaders, don’t worry. If you feel like you want to leave, then I’ll make up something about Ruby and we can go… but I don’t think we’ll need to. Okay?”

Lena nodded, squeezing Sam’s hand gently, “Okay. Thank you, Sam.” She blew a breath out of her cheeks and downed the rest of her drink, standing up to go stand by the windows. Now that she’d got past the initial panic, Lena was actually looking forward to getting to know Kara’s friends. Lena was nervous, sure, but she’d have the opportunity to learn about the kind of people Kara surrounds herself with.

She never stopped to think that maybe wanting to get to know strangers for the sole purpose of getting to know a singular person a little better was maybe a tad bit abnormal. But then again Lena didn’t have much experience with close friendships, so this never really crossed her mind.

Sam stood up and joined Lena by the window, bumping their shoulders together, “how’s the whole teaching thing going?”

Lena glanced at her and looked back out the window, watching the sliver of deep orange sunset in the horizon, “It’s going very well, actually.”

Sam hummed and stared out the window as well, both women falling into a comfortable silence, the only sound between the two of them was the quiet hum of the air conditioning.

Lena decided to leave shortly after, remembering last second to give Sam the folder of projects she approved. There was only a handful that Lena decided not to approve, and Sam assured Lena she’d get the department of each project to refine their outlines because she really thought they’d be beneficial. They thanked each other and Lena was pulled into a tight hug, happily returning it, “tell Ruby I said hello.”

“Of course. I’ll see you Saturday.” Lena nodded and turned to leave, but before she fully exited the door, Sam called out to her, “hey, don’t start worrying about it too much, okay? We’re gonna have fun.”

Lena chuckled and waved goodbye. She felt significantly better about the weekend, giving Sam all of the credit for her improved mood. She was more than thankful to have a friend like Sam. Even though she was Lena’s CFO, she was the closest friend Lena had. Sam was there throughout most of Lena’s struggles with L-Corp—even let Lena crash on her couch when Lena was worried Lex was going to try to assassinate her or something for testifying against him in court. She was there for Lena when she had a breakdown after reading an article in which she was accused of putting on a front when speaking out against her families’ wrongdoings and having an _‘ulterior motive’._ That was the first time Lena realized society would never see her as anything other than a Luthor.

That was also the day that Lena made it her life goal to better the world around her. She had faith in herself, and that was all that mattered to her. _She_ knew she was nothing like her family.

 

* * *

 

 

_“I’m sorry—you what? You’re going to have to repeat that whole sentence one more time.”_

Kara grimaced and threw herself on her bed, “Alex, I can’t say it again.” She whined. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and suddenly she felt short of breath.

Alex didn’t say anything for a long moment, and Kara squirmed under the drawn-out silence, _“you really like her?”_

Kara was the one to stay silent for a long while. It took her brain a minute to wrap around the idea of Kara liking Lena Luthor, but that’s what felt right to her. “I—yeah… I think so?” She shifted on her bed so she was nestled into her pillows, staring straight up at her ceiling. “I just, there’s this weird feeling I get when I’m around her and I—I don’t know… I like it. Like, I want to keep feeling it, and I only feel it when I’m around her.”

She could hear Alex take a deep breath, followed by the sharp clink of a glass against a counter. Kara guessed Alex had poured a glass of whiskey or something equally as strong. _“Is it kinda like how you felt with Mike?”_

“No—god, no. It’s… better.” Kara’s stomach did weird flips, and she swallowed her saliva.

 _“Yeah, you definitely like her.”_ Alex scoffed _, “I’m gonna be real honest, kiddo… I don’t know how to help you with this. But I know you, and I know you’re good at figuring things out. You got this.”_ Kara smiled softly at Alex’s encouragement, wondering how she got so lucky to have a sister like her. _“I’ll be here to support you the whole way—and who knows, maybe she likes you too.”_

Kara scoffed at that, “I _doubt_ it. Gosh, I mean—I don’t even know why _she’s_ my friend—”

_“Okay, stop right there. We’re not doing that self-depreciation shit. There are a million reasons why she should like you and I’m sure she could name every single one of them.”_

Kara felt a little better after Alex said that. She could be right… maybe she was. “Okay, yeah, I guess… but, I don’t know.” Kara groaned and fiddled with her glasses, her eyes running over every single bump in her ceiling. “This’ll pass for sure.”

 _“Sure it will.”_ There was a hint of sarcasm in Alex’s voice that Kara definitely did not miss.

It was just a schoolgirl crush—nothing serious. It couldn’t get any worse than it already was, there was no way.

 

* * *

 

It got worse. It got _so_ much worse.

In the span of five days, Kara was reduced down to a blushing, bumbling mess every time Lena entered her classroom after she finished a lecture. Kara managed to run into her desk three times, trip over a chair twice, and on Wednesday she managed to run nose first into her whiteboard and caused a nosebleed.

“Oh— _heck. Ow.”_ She tilted her head back as blood pooled down her nose, trying to ignore Lena’s hands on her cheeks as she insisted Kara tilt her head down so the blood didn’t go into her stomach.

The forests in Lena's eyes were full of worry as she looked up at Kara, eyebrows knitted up in concern. “Kara, sit down. Do you have napkins?”

Kara gestured towards her top desk drawer and Lena opened it, pulling out a whole stack. Luckily Kara always had a bottle of water with her because Lena grabbed it and soaked a few napkins, giving Kara a few dry ones and stealing one of her hands to wipe it clean of blood.

“I’m so sorry.” Kara’s voice was nasally, her eyes squeezed shut in sheer embarrassment.

Lena scrubbed the blood from in between Kara’s fingertips, waving away her apology, “Oh, hush. I’ve seen worse.” She had Kara hold the napkins on her nose with her clean hand and she took the other, wiping it clean of blood. “Here, take those off.” She inspected Kara’s face, happy to see the bleeding had stopped. Lena didn’t seem to think twice before grabbing Kara’s chin with one hand and wiping the blood off her upper lip with the other.

Kara’s cheeks were on _fire._ She didn’t move a single inch as Lena scrubbed gently at her face with a cold, wet napkin. The only thing she could think about was the feeling of Lena’s warm fingertips firmly holding her chin. She tried to keep her eyes closed, but Lena pushed her jaw down and Kara opened her eyes to see Lena’s attentive gaze on her mouth, tongue poking out just slightly in focus. That was a _huge_ mistake.

“Are you alright? You’re _very_ red.” Lena leaned forward to get a better look at Kara, her hair falling in loose waves over her shoulders, and she was wearing one of those loose olive green button ups that made her eyes pop, and _gosh_ it was too much for Kara.

Kara cleared her throat and stood up, walking around her desk, “yes—yeah, I’m fine! Fantastic, actually, thank you. I’m just gonna—” she started walking towards the door, “I’m gonna run to the bathroom real quick to just—” she gestured towards her face and pointed towards the door with her other hand, spinning on her heel to rush out the door.

This was bad. Real bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kara's kind of a mess, meanwhile Lena's really good at mistaking a crush as her just being inexperienced with the whole 'friendship' thing :)


	5. Chapter 5

Nervousness settled deep in the pit of Lena’s stomach as she stood outside of the bar entrance, Sam standing right beside her. She was thankful Sam wasn’t pushing her to go inside because Lena really needed to take a moment to stop and just _breathe. In and out… in… and out._

The collar of Lena’s shirt felt so tight suddenly and she desperately rushed to unbutton the top few buttons, sighing in relief when breathing became much easier.

Sam raised her eyebrows at Lena when the Luthor looked over to nod, signaling she was ready to continue. Sam threw an arm around Lena’s shoulder, telling her they were going to have loads of fun.

They walked inside, eyes taking a moment to adjust to the dim lights and noses struggling to get used to the scent of cigarettes mixed with liquor. It didn’t take long for them to spot a group of people with a few familiar faces at a table just beside the bar.

Lena spotted Kara amongst the group immediately, and suddenly every single ounce of worry she had felt melted away when she saw Kara burst out into a fit of giggles at something the two men at their table said. Worry had been replaced with warmth, and Lena led Sam over to the group of people, regaining her usual level of confidence as she smiled back at the faces that turned to see who it was Kara was staring at.

Kara was the first to stand, running around the table to pull Lena into a tight hug, giving Sam one as well. She made introductions, and everyone shifted their chairs so Sam and Lena could join the group.

Sam separated Kara and Alex, and Kara separated Sam and Lena. Alex didn’t seem to mind in the slightest, judging by the eyebrow raise at Kara from behind Sam’s back, jerking her head in Sam’s direction and mouthing _‘wow’_ at her sister.

Kara giggled and turned to Lena, who stared at her questioningly, wanting to get in on whatever joke had been told, “nothing, Alex is just really gay.” Kara shrugged, being pulled into a heated argument between Winn and James about which Star Wars movie was the best.

Lena leaned behind Kara as she offered her input, catching Sam’s attention. She nodded her head towards Alex, who was taking Winn’s side (surprisingly), and raised her eyebrows, asking _‘so?’_ without saying a word.

Sam risked a glance at Alex, then shrugged with a slight nod.

“Okay, but, Episode V was _so_ iconic—and it was perfect! I mean, okay, listen,” everyone was already listening to Winn, but he straightened up in his chair and took a deep breath, “it’s the story that’s right in the middle of the trilogy, right? So it has to leave room for more—it had to leave the viewers satisfied while also ending on a note of irresolution specifically so they’d return for more, and the movie did _exactly_ that!”

James was _not_ having it. “Come on, man. Episode V is so overrated, and you know it.”

They argued even more, Kara shouting about how “A New Hope was great!” because it “perfectly shows true human values that the audience can connect with.”

Lena honestly didn’t know what they were talking about, but she was absorbed in every single piece of the conversation. She figured she shouldn’t share the fact she’d never seen any of the Star Wars movies at the table.

That was the plan, at least, “what do you think, Lena?” Alex questioned her, and everyone ceased their conversation to get her input.

Lena steeled herself in preparation for the backlash, “I wouldn’t know, I’ve never seen it.”

No one spoke, but their expressions did all the talking for them.

“Movie night.” Kara sounded bound and determined, “you’re coming over for a movie night and we’re marathoning every single Star Wars movie.”

Lena blinked a few times, “Oh. Okay, sure.” She looked to Sam for help but found the woman deep in conversation with Alex, both women speaking in hushed tones. Lena figured it best to leave them alone.

Winn looked at Kara with a seriously concerned expression, eyebrows coming up in a furrow as she spoke, “Kara, please fix her.” Kara let out a laugh, smiling warmly at Lena, nodding to Winn. He eased up a bit, but still looked deeply offended by the news Lena shared.

Kara and James left the table together to go get everyone a few drinks, and Lena couldn’t help but watch them the entire time. Winn would ask her a question about her company’s security system, and Lena would rip her eyes from Kara and James to answer, immediately gluing them back on the two. James smiled when Kara said something, nudging her slightly. Lena felt an uncomfortable burn in her chest, her jaw clenching slightly. Kara got on her tiptoes to whisper something in James’ ear, both struggling to stifle their giggles when Kara finished her sentence.

Lena was very familiar with the feeling in her chest. It was the feeling she got often as a child when she’d walk by Lex’s room to see him nestled against Lillian, the woman smiling warmly at her son as she told him stories, whispering _“my beautiful boy”_ In a tone that Lillian never spoke to Lena in.

 _Jealousy_. Lena was jealous, and she didn’t know why. Perhaps she was jealous of the friendship James and Kara had—of how close they seemed. Lena attributed her jealousy to her just wanting to be better friends with Kara. _Sure, that sounds about right._

James and Kara came back with arms full of drinks, and everyone drank their drinks and talked their talks. Lena loosened up significantly, encouraging everyone to ask the questions they were afraid to ask, answering them with grace and a hint of wit.

Lena hadn’t heard much from James until he was talking about one of his recent photography projects, frowning when there was a building he desperately wanted to shoot inside of but couldn’t get access to. That building sounded familiar, and Lena soon realized that it belonged to a company Luthor Corp bought out years before Lena took over, and she didn’t hesitate to share this with James and assure him she’d get him access.

James seemed surprised at first when Lena gave him access. A grateful smile slowly spread across his lips, “thanks, Lena.” His voice was low and gentle, appreciative of Lena.

“Well, who would I be to prevent an artist from doing their work?”

Lena downed a few drinks before she could start to feel the alcohol taking its effect, and she decided to drink water for the remainder of the night.

Well, that was her plan, but Alex and Sam left the table to grab a few more drinks, getting Lena a ridiculously strong drink that made her wince at the burning sensation in her mouth. Her buzz kept getting stronger, and so did the drinks. “Guys, I won’t be able to drive if you keep giving me drinks.”

Alex shrugged, “Kara lives within walking distance, why don’t you go home with her?” Kara whipped her head around to frown at Alex, but Alex spoke before Kara could say anything, “she’d be walking home alone otherwise, so…”

“Yeah, you’ve spent the night over there before. Why don’t you go ahead, and I’ll drop Alex off at home on my way out.” Sam raised her dark eyebrows at Lena, eyes insistent.

Lena opened and closed her mouth, wondering how on earth she could say no when they were being so persistent. She looked at Kara, who stared down at her lap as she fiddled with her glasses. “I wouldn’t mind…” she made sure Kara was fine with it before saying yes, though. “Are you sure you?” She asked Sam.

“Yeah, totally. Alex and I already talked about it, we’re good riding together.” Sam shrugged.

Lena missed Kara’s frown, and the “oh, you’ve been doing some _discussing”_ she muttered under her breath.

Eventually, conversations came to an end, and drinks were left empty on the table. The night came to a close, and everyone shuffled out of the bar to go home. Lena was happy she went out for drinks. She felt like she gained more positive figures in her life, and she was grateful for every bit of kindness she received. Lena got James and Winn’s numbers, promising James an update on his access to the building and Winn a link to a new firewall she was trying to develop.

It was just her and Kara for the rest of the night. They walked slowly down the long sidewalk, the occasional pair of people who were out for fun on a weekend night passing by. The night was young, but they were both exhausted.

As soon as they got to Kara’s apartment, Kara went to her bedroom and pulled out two pairs of pajamas. Lena realized then that she didn’t have a change of clothes, and she took the shirt and sweatpants Kara offered her with a grateful smile. She changed in the bathroom, and she felt an unusual wave of happiness wash over her when she looked in the mirror and saw herself, Kara’s National City University shirt hanging loosely around her torso. It was tight around her chest, but Lena was comfortable.

She walked out of the bathroom to see Kara throwing a blanket on the couch, falling into the cushions. “You’re not sleeping there, are you?”

Kara looked up at her, and Lena’s breath hitched at the site of Kara laying there, hair falling in loose curls around her cheeks, her glasses abandoned somewhere. For someone who was about to go to sleep, she looked _stunning._ “I—yeah? You can sleep in the bed.”

“No.”

“No?”

Lena walked over to Kara and snatched the blanket off her, “come on, Kara. This is your apartment. Sleep in your own bed.”

Kara hesitated for a moment but didn’t put up a fight. She stood up and grabbed the pillow she’d stolen, following Lena to her bedroom. She let out a content sigh when she settled into her bed, humming when Lena finally got comfortable. “Are you comfy?”

“Mhm, thank you.”

Kara turned off the lamp beside her, pulling the covers up to their hips.

Lena didn’t realize the extent of her exhaustion until she began dozing off. She didn’t necessarily want to go to sleep quite yet, but her body was telling her otherwise because she was asleep within minutes.

She didn’t stay awake to see Kara’s tentative stare, or her rosy cheeks, or to hear the nervous sigh that came from Kara’s lips just before she settled into bed next to Lena

 

* * *

 

 

Lena couldn’t see much when she woke up. Her eyes were open, but her vision was obstructed by something. She felt a pressure on her hip, and she tried to move to look over at it, but a tight squeeze to her hip and a low grumble at the movement stopped her. _Ah._

Lena moved only her head as she looked back, seeing the expanse of Kara’s neck as she laid on her side facing Lena, lips parted only slightly to let out slow breaths. Lena looked around the room, sheer curtains letting in rays of morning sun. Kara’s arm was draped lazily across Lena’s waist, preventing her from moving, but Lena didn’t care. She thought for a moment that maybe she should move, but she had no desire to remove herself from Kara’s hold. Even if she wanted to, Lena wouldn’t be able to because Kara was insanely strong, and she was an aggressive cuddler.

Instead of getting up, Lena closed her tired eyes and sank further into Kara’s arms, not enough energy to care, and she fell asleep.

It hadn’t even felt like a minute passed before she woke up to a sudden chill surrounding her body, opening her eyes to see Kara slowly moving to get out of bed. Lena inhaled deeply, letting out a groan when she stretched out her legs.

Kara stumbled slightly when she got out of bed, meekly looking at Lena, “good morning!” her voice was gruff with sleep, and Lena felt a burn creep up her neck. “Sorry for uh—” she couldn’t finish her sentence, so Lena just waved the apology away with a soft smile. Kara stood in front of her doorway, and she shifted her weight onto her other foot. Her face seemed bare without her glasses, but she was still beautiful, her blonde hair cascading down her shoulders in loose curls, slightly tousled with sleep. “I’m gonna make breakfast. How do you like your eggs?”

Lena stood up and stretched out her back, “over easy,” Lena could taste how bad her breath was, and she grimaced slightly. A toothbrush is one thing she didn’t think to bring with her to a night out with Kara’s friend group. “Do you have an extra toothbrush?”

Kara thought for a moment, that crinkle Lena had become all too familiar with appearing between her eyebrows, “Oh, I don’t—wait! Yes, I do. One sec.” she left for a moment and then appeared with an unopened toothbrush, giving it to Lena. “My toothpaste is in the mirror cabinet. Do you need anything else?” Lena shook her head, and they both went off to do their own thing.

Lena rid her mouth of that corpse-like taste and rinsed off her face, scrubbing off the eyeliner she forgot to take off the previous night. When she left the bathroom, she was assaulted by the smell of bacon, grease eagerly popping every few seconds. She couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Kara poking at the bacon with tongs, humming a familiar tune as she bounced on her heels. It was absolutely adorable.

She sat down at the kitchen island where Kara had left her phone on, a notification sound drawing Lena’s attention to the screen. _“How to cook over easy eggs”_ displayed on the screen with a little tutorial on how to fry an egg. Lena started laughing, and Kara whipped around at the sound, worry knitting through her brow. “What?” Lena pointed at Kara’s phone, and Kara face turned beet red, “I’m not Gordon Ramsey, okay! I didn’t know there were other ways to make eggs besides scrambled and sunny side up!”

Lena burst out in laughter, fingertips coming up to her lips to try to stifle her laughs, “you’re so cute, oh my gosh. I would have been happy if you had made them the way you know how.”

Kara turned around and turned off the stove, the redness of her ears indicating she was still embarrassed. She put the bacon on two plates and gave one to Lena with perfectly cooked eggs. “It’s okay. I learned something new today, so…” she shrugged.

Lena smiled dumbly at her plate of food, steam lifting from the food. She could see the grease on the bacon continue to pop, and she looked over at Kara’s, her plate full of a jumbled mess of eggs, “how many eggs did it take you to get these right?”

Kara shrugged as she stuffed a pile of egg into her mouth, “about six.” She admitted like it was no big deal.

 _Six?_ “Wow, no one’s ever messed up six eggs for me before. Thank you.” She chuckled. Her words had hidden subtext that only she could read because no one had _ever_ tried that hard for her before. And sure, it was just eggs, but Kara could have just given up at two and made scrambled eggs instead, but she kept going until she got it right, and Lena had no idea how to thank Kara other than to eat every single bite of food the woman had made her, even if it was far too much food.

“Anything for you.” Kara spoke softly, eyes glued to her fork as she stabbed at a few eggs. The words made Lena’s heart skip and her stomach tingle. A warm feeling resonated in her chest and stayed until she left Kara’s apartment over an hour later.

That same feeling reappeared every so often, and eventually it occurred nearly every single time she met with Kara. She’d look up from the pile of papers she was thumbing through to Kara standing there, paper bags full of their lunch in hand and a dopey grin on her face and _boom,_ the warm sensations began. Or she’d be walking with Kara in the halls, discussing various novelist that were highly underrated when Kara’s hand would brush against hers and, _oh, would you look at that, there’s that feeling again. I should go see a doctor._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think it's a doctor Lena needs


	6. Chapter 6

The busiest time of year for teachers and students alike was at the end of each semester. First semester was nearing the end, and professors had to work more to figure out their final exams and how on earth they were going to teach material they’d completely spaced on. Or, rather, Kara had to figure out how to get in an entire section on French literature in less than two months while keeping her final the same as the previous year. She really didn’t want to mess with making a whole new final, but she also didn’t want her students to cram five novels into two months.

She was starting to regret making the Spanish lit section three months instead of two, but she really, _really_ loved Spanish literature. Her students this year were especially reactive to the entire section, begging to do a section over one more book that Kara mentioned she was thinking about having them read.

In the midst of her “stress-sesh,” as Kara called it, Lena appeared in the doorway to her classroom, a warm smile on her face that never failed to make Kara’s heart flutter. _God, she’s gorgeous. Wow._ “Hey,” she set down the outline she was scribbling all over, moving over so Lena could pull a chair up beside her, tidying up the mess of papers on her desk, “sorry, I’m trying to reorganize my lectures.”

Lena glanced over some of the papers, cringing at the disorganized mess on Kara’s desk. When Kara started digging through stacks of papers to find one paper in particular, Lena couldn’t help but reach out and grab Kara’s hands, stopping her movements, “Kara, why don’t you go out and get us lunch, and I’ll fix all of _this.”_ Her voice wasn’t allowing for anything other than a “sure,” and Kara fumbled around the drawers on her desk as she attempted to find her purse.

“Wait, I have all of my—”

“I’ll handle it, Kara.”

Kara didn’t make any attempt to argue, and she spun around on her heel and left. She set out to the first place that popped into her head and walked outside, the sidewalk devoid of students who had either all mostly went home or gone to lunch before their afternoon classes. She wondered how she managed to find someone like Lena—someone who she was comfortable enough with to let completely reorganize her desk, which was the one thing Kara absolutely did _not_ like people touching. Not even her students. She’d made that very apparent when one student grabbed an assignment off Kara’s desk before she had the opportunity to pass it out, and she addressed to the class with a biting smile to not ‘ _just come up to my desk and take things. I have a system and I get thrown off very easily.’_

The fact that she was letting Lena alter her system completely was telling of just how much Kara liked her. Her crush was getting increasingly severe as the months passed by, and Kara didn’t know how to stop it. She thought it’d go away by then, but it was late November and Kara couldn’t sleep at night without at least one thought of Lena crossing her mind.

In fact, most of her thoughts at night were of Lena. She went to bed thinking about her interactions with Lena that day, falling asleep with a smile on her face, looking forward to the next day, and the day after that, because Kara knew that she’d see Lena each of those days, and most days following. Lena was incentive to go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning because the sooner she fell asleep, the faster time would pass and the sooner she could go to school in the morning and see those gorgeous green eyes staring at her, hips showcased by a tight skirt or a formfitting dress.

She was worried her little crush was becoming too much, and she soon found herself calling Alex as she walked down the sidewalk.

_“Hey, what’s up?”_

Kara didn’t know exactly what she wanted to say so she decided to talk about something else as she gathered her thoughts, “Lena’s reorganizing my desk.”

Alex gasped over the phone, _“Wow, you’re letting her touch your shit? That’s shocking.”_

“I _know._ I didn’t even question it—I just let her do it, and now I’m grabbing us some lunch while she works on it. Who am I?”

Alex let out a short laugh, _“someone who’s in love.”_

“I am _not.”_ Kara’s breath hitched at how fake those words felt coming out of her mouth. She’d stopped dead in her tracks, wondering at which point she fell in love with Lena. Was it the day Lena first brought her lunch—or maybe the time Lena left her own class to give Kara a box of brand new dry erase markers because Kara texted her to ask for one _after_ her class was over.

Every single encounter she had with Lena led to a _‘that could be it—that could be the point’_ but at the same time it didn’t feel like there was a specific point. Every single encounter with Lena built Kara up to the point where she could be in love with Lena Luthor. Her love came from a mixture of soft smiles, bright green eyes, and thoughtful words.

Kara thought back to one evening in particular; Lena sat in her usual chair next to Kara’s in the blondes classroom, thumbing through the pages of papers written by students on Spanish poets. She smiled down at each poem she liked, then pointed it out to Kara, stating how beautiful it was, or how tragic, or how funny.

Lena furrowed her brow at one in particular; the student kept it in its original language, and Lena handed the paper to Kara, asking her to translate it.

Kara hummed as she read it. Cervantes was one of her favorites, _“He who’s never been loved cannot be good.”_

Lena’s neutral expression faltered, and Kara could see the inward struggle in the furrow of her brow. She didn’t say anything, only waited for Lena to speak up. It took a minute, but Lena let in a deep breath before speaking, “I don’t agree with that…” she fiddled with the hem of her skirt as memories of Lex before he went mad started trickling into her thoughts. She loved him with all her heart, but that wasn’t enough to keep him good.

Kara didn’t require an explanation to know what Lena was thinking, and she set aside the papers in their laps and grasped Lena’s hands, “someone who’s already corrupt is blind to the beauty of love, Lena. In some cases, loving someone isn’t enough to save someone, but it’s all you can do, and that’s okay.”

Lena smiled and flipped her palms so she could take Kara’s hands in her own, gently squeezing them in thanks. They let go and Lena grabbed another paper, pointing another poem out to Kara, “I really like this one, too.”

Kara read the words _“ _The greatest obstacle to love is the hidden fear of not being worthy of being loved__ ,” and she let out a nervous laugh, a blush creeping up her neck. “Yeah, I, uh—I really like everything by Juan Pablo Valdés, he’s—he’s brilliant.” She swallowed down the lump in her throat and busied herself with grading papers, not daring to look up and meet those dangerous green eyes.

_“Kara? Where’d ya go?”_

Alex’s voice snapped Kara out of her daze and she began walking again, “I’m here, sorry. Hey, I gotta go. I’m almost there.” They hung up, and Kara walked into the commons building and ordered her and Lena subs from one of the shops closer to the door, having to guess completely on what Lena would like on her sub. She paid and was out the doors, her thoughts keeping her company on her walk back to her classroom.

Once Kara was standing in front of her door, the nervousness hit her like a train. She knew she’d have to spend the next week or so getting used to whatever Lena had done to her stuff, but she also realized that she was going to have to make a very important decision _very_ soon.

She walked inside, met with Lena typing away on her own laptop and writing a few things down in a notebook. “Welcome back! Come, look at this.” Kara did as she was told and took the seat Lena normally sat in, staring attentively at her desk. There were two neat stacks of paper on her desk, all of her little decorations arranged neatly around her computer monitor. Lena pointed to her laptop screen, drawing in Kara’s attention. “I know you were struggling with your class outline for your next section so I made a couple suggestions based on your previous curriculums.”

Kara had no idea how to respond other than to gawk at Lena’s screen. “This is—” all of her words escaped her. _So thoughtful? Amazing? Insanely kind?_

Lena mistook Kara’s silence for dissatisfaction, “you hate it?”

“No—” Kara looked up and saw Lena’s hesitant gaze, already prepared for the backlash, “this is—you didn’t have to do this. This is way too nice.”

Lena sighed in relief, opting to show Kara where she put everything.

The two stacks on her desk were student’s papers, one stack graded, the other not. The drawer on the bottom that Kara was using for napkins and extra sauce packets from various restaurants now actually contained files and Lena even labeled each one so Kara could clearly read them. Everything was in its own place, and Kara could definitely get used to it without any issues. She thanked Lena, hugging her tightly before she was reminded of the food sitting on the corner of her desk.

They ate, and Lena pointed more things out. Kara watched Lena talk, watched her hands move to accentuate words, watched her lips form words that Kara could hardly hear past the drumming in her ears from her heartbeat.

Lena noticed Kara’s lack of response, turning in the stolen chair to raise an eyebrow in question, “what?”

Kara was still in a daze when she looked at Lena, glancing at those dangerous green eyes, “nothing, you’re just amazing.”

Lena’s expression softened slightly, her lips quirking up into a small smile, and Kara couldn’t stop staring. She had a decision to make, and she wanted to make it now. The only thing stopping her from outright admitting _everything_ to Lena right then and there was her own fear. She was terrified—afraid that Lena wouldn’t feel the same, and why would she? Their relationship was one of friendship, and as far as Kara knew, she was the only one who exhibited any kind of romantic feelings towards the other. She could ruin everything by saying something.

Lena’s voice broke into Kara’s thoughts, “If you keep complimenting me I’m going to lose it.”

Kara shook away all distracting thoughts and implemented a goal to tell Lena Luthor every single reason why she was an amazing human being. “Lena Luthor, you have been one of my best friends these past few months. You’ve been there for me, you helped me grade my own student's papers when I fell behind, you bring me coffee in the morning, lunch… and heck, you just solved the problem I’ve been struggling with for _four_ years of teaching!” she threw a hand at her desk, looking at Lena’s expression for any sign that her words were getting through that dense skull of hers, “you’re a _genius!_ Your inventions have done more for this world than any of your brothers, and why? Because the person behind those inventions cares deeply about the people they will affect.”

Kara was on a roll, her mouth moving faster than her brain. She went on to tell Lena how much their friendship improved her life, and how happy she was to see Lena opening up to Kara’s friends, insisting that Winn and James absolutely adored her, and when Lena _still_ looked unconvinced, Kara said, “your intellect, your genuine kindness and ridiculous ability to know exactly what I need is what made me realize that I lov—” she cut herself off, her breath stopping in her throat. _Oh dear god, please tell me she didn’t…_ Kara watched Lena’s expression carefully, and when it was neutral, she spoke up, voice gentle this time, “that I love being your friend.”

It was a nice save, but it didn’t sit right with Kara because she _hated_ being Lena’s friend. She hated having to hide her feelings and having to put distance between the two of them so as not to risk doing or saying something that would expose her. She hated falling asleep at night thinking of Lena, dreaming of holding the woman in her arms, and then waking up to an empty bed and an even emptier apartment.

“I love being yours, too, Kara. Thank you.” _Finally,_ Lena seemed to understand. She stood up, grabbing Kara’s hands so she could as well and they hugged, Kara rubbing the expanse of Lena’s spine.

Lena only hugged Kara tighter, and she didn’t want it to end. Her heart was aching for Lena’s embrace when it did, and Kara struggled to keep a smile on her face as she and Lena finished their lunch break together.

She almost couldn’t wait for Lena to leave so she could finally breathe. Kara had a problem, and for once she couldn’t find a solution that didn’t end well.

Kara had read enough novels to know what unrequited love leads to.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It gets messy before it gets clean?  
> Lena really just needs to realize she kindaaaa likes Kara

In fear of rejection, Kara completely pushed her feelings to the side for months. She spent time with Lena in hopes that she’d stop being in love with her, but every single smile, every single light touch to her arm and softly spoken word made it that much worse.

Alex tried to encourage Kara to say something, but every time she was met with, “I can’t yet.” But at least there was a _yet._ Alex knew this couldn’t go on very long—knew that Kara would say something sooner or later, but later was apparently the option Kara was going with.

Kara was down to her last section of the school year; Italian literature. Italian and Spanish were sister languages and Kara knew it was smart to make that the last love language to end her class with. Her students weren’t required to understand anything other than English, but they were smart and they picked up some phrases. They’d be able to decipher some words, and Kara was always happy to make a little game of her students trying to figure out what words meant what.

One of the last books she had her students read was “The Name of the Rose” by Umberto Eco. It was one of the more challenging books; her students often complained for the first few days as they powered through the first hundred pages or so, but Kara would simply remind them that the ending is always worth the wait.

She’d read the book enough times to know where her students were at, understanding that the excessive detail used to describe the wealthy Italian abbey the story was set in was exhausting to read. She’d struggled herself, but when the mystery novel came to an end, she found herself diving right back in from the beginning.

Kara was dedicated to her books, and she was more than happy to see her students came around after that long stretch of detail. She was in the middle of a discussion about who the students thought committed the act of heresy when her desk phone began ringing. She fumbled with the marker she was holding before swiftly catching it and telling her students to group up for their next project, answering her phone. “Hi, this is professor Danvers.”

_“Hey, It’s Lena. One of my students has something I need you to see, can you come to my class whenever you get a chance? I know you’re in the middle of a class, so it doesn’t have to be now—”_

“I’ll come. They’re just about to start working on a project so I can slip out for a few minutes, will that be fine?” Of course, she didn’t hesitate to say yes.

There was a pause on the other end that lasted a beat too long, and Kara heard Lena clear her throat before giving her response, _“I—that’s fine… are you sure? It’s not serious,”_ Kara went to argue that it was fine, but Lena’s voice cut her off, _“it can wait thirty minutes, Kara. Honestly.”_

Kara said okay, but her curiosity got the best of her. She let her students go twenty minutes early, walking out behind them to go see what Lena needed.

A slightly surprised Lena opened her classroom door when Kara knocked, letting her in after a moment. She nodded Kara over to the lab table in the front of the classroom that was designated for the teacher, a rack of tubes and various chemicals laid out. A few students looked their way but continued working. Upon noticing Kara had walked into the room, one student broke away from her group to rush to her desk and grab a small packet of papers, shuffling over to Kara and Lena when Lena waved her over.

Kara looked between the student and Lena with a curious stare, wondering what on earth was happening. “Kara, this is Eve—one of my students. I believe she recently moved here from Connecticut.” Lena gestured towards the blonde who presented Lena with the packet. “I just happened to glance at the authors' name when she was reading it before labs, and she was very excited to find out that I know the writer.” She handed Kara the papers, nodding for her to read them.

Kara didn’t have to read much because she recognized the words—every single one. She’d written them. “How did you get this?” She was holding copies of her article she did a long, _long_ time ago on Literature in Chemistry. Kara had written it when she was just a sophomore in college—she’d minored in Chemistry and majored in World Literature, and she thought it would be fun to write a paper on how the two tied into each other after reading a novel written in the late seventeen-hundreds about chemistry for her literature class. In chemistry, she’d been learning about the history of Chemistry, one of her assignments being a paper on Antoine Lavoisier, while in Literature she had to write a paper on any piece of literature of her choosing. It was two birds with one stone.

“My mother was your professor—Professor Tessmacher.” The head of the group spoke, her smile gleaming with admiration. “She has a box of essays that some of her students forgot to pick up in our attic and I just happened to find this!”

Kara remembered Professor Tessmacher very well. She was a bright and pleasant woman who _loved_ Literature. She even helped Kara fall even more in love with reading. “Oh! She was a fantastic woman! You definitely have her hair, that’s for sure.” She gestured towards Eve’s long curly hair, wondering if everyone in her family had hair like that. It sure seemed difficult to manage—Kara definitely couldn’t deal with it if her hair was that curly. Props to that girl.

They smiled, and Kara was soon bombarded with questions about her paper. She hadn’t paid much attention to chemistry since she graduated, but she was happy to answer whatever she could. Lena sat and listened for a while before moving off to help some of her students with their labs, occasionally tuning in to what Kara was telling the group. Lena found a smile on her face when she had noticed Kara had gone on a tangent about how challenging it was for her to read a novel centered around chemistry, but she found analyzing factual material was a bit easier than a bunch of metaphors and ambiguous phrases.

Lena stood and watched one group go through the lab one more time, making sure the group had the procedure down. Well, that’s what she planned to do, but her eyes wandered to the side and she was watching Kara instead. She watched her talk with Eve about her paper, pointing out a few things on various pages and giving the student a little lesson about various topics. She watched Kara giggle at something Eve said, watched her and the woman both lean a little closer to each other to look at the fine print, making eye contact and smiling excitedly at each other. She saw the happiness in their eyes as they talked, saw how close they were standing next to each other. Lena didn’t know why she felt so unsettled all of a sudden, but she did.

It got worse when Eve touched Kara’s forearm, her fingers lingering when Kara didn’t respond to the touch.

They were just talking about the paper. That’s all it was. Kara came to her classroom to talk to a student that requested her—Kara was just being a good teacher and doing what she did best; teach. But Eve’s fingers remained where they were, and Kara noticed them but didn’t move them, just kept talking about her papers, and Lena’s eyebrow twitched slightly.

Lena’s legs started moving towards the two of them, noticing Eve had removed her hand at the sight of Lena approaching them, which had made Lena’s eyebrow twitch again. She smiled at the two of them when Kara looked up at her, flipping the papers around in order and giving Eve back the paper. “I think we’re out of time. If you have any more questions, you know where my classroom is!”

Eve thanked her, looking at Lena when the Luthor cleared her throat, “you’ve finished your lab?” Eve nodded and went back to her group, leaving Kara and Lena alone in the front of the classroom.

Kara glanced over at Eve, smiling at Lena, “wow, that was quite a coincidence! She’s _so_ smart. You must be a really great teacher, huh.”

“Well, she did go to _Yale_ before here.” Lena didn’t mean for her words to come out so jagged. Kara didn’t seem to notice, though, because she just kept smiling at her.

After a moment of them standing in silence, Kara pushed herself up on her toes and rocked back and forth between her heels, “I should leave you to it—I need to go send out an email to my students about their project.” She pulled Lena in for a hug just before leaving, and Lena looked around at her students to see none of them paid them much attention until her eyes moved over Eve’s group and she saw the woman whip her head around to look at the people sat around her.

Her eyebrow twitched again. It was starting to irritate her.

 

* * *

 

 

The following week, Lena was headed down to Kara’s classroom for their usual Tuesday lunch, carrying takeout bags from one of the few cafés on campus that delivers to teachers. She stood behind Kara’s door, which was closed, strangely. She moved the bags to one hand and she pushed the door open, peering inside the room to make sure Kara was actually in there.

That familiar twitch in her left eyebrow appeared when she saw Kara and Eve sitting at Kara’s desk, Eve in the chair that Lena usually sat in, sitting _way_ too close to Kara for Lena’s comfort. Not that anything _weird_ was happening, of course. Just Kara. And Eve. Eve who was sitting very close to Kara while the professor talked quietly about some novel or other.

Kara glanced up, a look of surprise appearing across her features when she noticed Lena standing in her doorway. She pushed away from her desk, startling Eve who jumped away from Kara, a dumb look on her face. “Lena! Is it noon already?” Lena only nodded, glancing briefly at Eve. She really hoped Kara didn’t see the daggers she was staring at Eve with.

“Oh—sorry, I should actually get going to my next class, too. Thank you, Professor Danvers. I’ll read that book and let you know how I like it.” She smiled at Kara with a smile that was just a little _too_ sweet, and Kara nodded enthusiastically, waving bye to her as she left.

Lena tentatively sat down in her chair, setting the food down on the table. She set about eating immediately, not waiting for Kara to grab her own. Eve’s mannerisms around Kara screamed _‘I have a crush on a teacher!’_ and it annoyed Lena that Kara didn’t seem to notice. It was so obvious, how could she not? Unless Kara did… and didn’t care to stop it.

Kara noticed the silence, leaning over to Lena to catch her eyes, watching her with careful blue eyes, “are you okay? You’re kinda quiet.”

Lena hummed, continuing to eat her food. She looked at Kara to see her still staring at her and Lena sighed, setting her food down and crossing her arms. “Do you like Eve?”

“Do I…” Kara frowned slightly, “sure, she’s a bright young woman.”

Lena sighed, her eyebrow twitching slightly, “no, I mean… do you _like_ her?”

Kara grimaced at the thought, and Lena had her answer before Kara even spoke, “oh, no, ew. Why do you ask? Am I being weird? Oh, god. What if she calls—”

“No, no… You’re not being weird.” Kara sighed in relief, slumping back against her chair before taking a bite of her food, “but Eve _definitely_ likes you.” Kara choked, and Lena patted her back roughly, moving to rest her hand on the small of Kara’s back as she began stuttering.

“I—what? No. How would you know?” Kara squinted at Lena through her glasses, taking a sip of water before breaking out into another coughing fit. Her face had turned a deep shade of red, Lena assuming it was from her coughing fit.

Lena thought about it for a moment. How _did_ she know? “The way she looks at you… sits close to you, touches you….” It was familiar. It was way too familiar, and that irritated Lena the most because she didn’t know _why_ it seemed so familiar. It was when she noticed her close proximity with Kara, her hand that was resting on the fabric of the blondes navy blue button up that covered her back, and the intensity of Kara’s dark blue eyes that Lena realized why everything Eve had been doing was so familiar to her.

She also had a crush on a particular Literature professor.

The revelation left Lena staring blankly at Kara, and the blonde got a little closer to Lena to examine her, “uh, Lena?”

Lena shook herself from her stupor and retracted her hand, backing up a bit from Kara. “I’m… fine. Sorry.” She turned towards the desk to grab her salad, her face feeling as if a fire had ignited in each and every single one of her pores.

This was a very, _very_ unexpected turn of events. And _very_ sudden. Lena didn’t even have time to process her feelings before Kara was being called on her cell phone and she excused herself outside, breaking out into a hushed argument with someone over the phone just before stepping out of her classroom.

Well. Lena didn’t think liking Kara was a bad thing… but it wasn’t the best either. Lena just had to make sure not to let her feelings spiral out of control, otherwise it would really be a problem. She figured she could hang out with Kara like normal, but the blonde came back into her classroom with a sheepish grin, holding her phone out to Lena.

Lena hesitantly grabbed the phone, “hello?”

Sam’s voice rang through the speaker, a woman laughing in the background. Sam shushed the woman before speaking, _“Lena! You and Kara. Bring snacks to Alex’s place after work.”_

Lena frowned at Kara, “why?”

_“It’s five dollar Tuesday at the movie theater and that new Disney movie came out a few weeks ago. And Ruby’s already seen it and she’s at a friends until tonight. You can’t say no, I know you’re not busy.”_

Lena looked at Kara, who was smiling at her hopefully, and Lena couldn’t bring herself to say no. “What kind of snacks should I bring?” Kara smiled brightly at that, getting closer to Lena so she could listen to Sam rattle out a long lost of candy to the two of them. The close proximity made Lena shudder, warmth rising up her neck. She’d have to sit in a theater. With Sam and Alex. And Kara. Sam and Alex were getting closer with one another, and Lena was definitely going to have to sit next to Kara, maybe even a few rows _away_ from Sam and Alex because Lena wasn’t dumb, she could tell they were a little more than friends at that point. So, she’d be left with Kara, who Lena just realized she had a bit of a crush on.

She was in trouble. Lot’s of trouble.


	8. Chapter 8

Kara insisted she be the one to drive Lena to the store and to Alex’s apartment before the movie. She was excited to dive Lena around for once, not an ounce of shame as she sang ballads to Lena, serenading her with every single song that played on the radio.

Lena, however, was not excited about this development. Not because she didn’t like it, but because she absolutely adored every single second of it. She laughed when Kara would dramatically turn towards her to sing a verse, making direct eye contact for an intense moment before looking back at the road, singing her heart out. Lena’s heart fluttered every time she met those gorgeous blue eyes, and she found it impossible to take her eyes off the blonde, taking time to admire her features. Kara’s silky blonde hair that was draped in loose curls around her shoulders, her well-fitted navy shirt and light gray slacks that Lena _definitely_ noticed hugged her hips perfectly, her deep blue eyes that looked even better than the clear water of Bora Bora. And her lips—

Lena had to cut herself off. She had to stop right there because that was just a little too much. She didn’t want Kara to notice the blush that threatened to creep its way up to her cheeks, and thinking about Kara like _that_ would definitely expose her.

Kara swerved a little when she whipped her head over to look at Lena, belting out, _“Don’t. Stop. Me. Noooow.”_ And swerving back into her lane when the person in the car next to them gave Kara a dirty look. Kara settled back into her seat but kept singing the words to Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.” Lena laughed at the sight but found a sigh of relief escaping her lips when Kara placed the car in park when they arrived at the store.

They grabbed all of the necessities, conspiring on how to smuggle ten boxes of candy and four drinks into the theater.

“Have you ever seen those videos of the women who steal whole bottles of wine by shoving them up their… you know,” Kara was reminded of the video Alex showed her a while back, wondering how on earth someone could even fit a bottle _that_ big up there.

Lena laughed in recognition, “Sam showed it to me when it was frequenting the internet.”

“How did that woman even get it up there?” Kara wondered, theories circling her thoughts.

“Kegels, maybe.” Lena shrugged with a smirk, finding herself laughing when Kara snorted. She led Kara to the checkout, and Lena paid for most of it, only letting Kara buy her single box of candy and Lena’s drink at Kara’s insistence.

When they were in the car and on their way to meet up at Alex’s apartment, Kara looked over at Lena, smiling widely when she saw her already watching her. “What is it?” Kara asked.

Lena hummed, her chest warm at the sight of that bright smile. “Nothing… I’m just glad you ran into me.” And she genuinely was. She was glad Kara was so engrossed in her packet of papers that she didn’t think to peek around the corner before rounding it at the pace she was. She was glad she was knocked to the floor, glad Kara seemed to walk the same path at around the same time most mornings. Lena was glad an opportunity like Kara Danvers came crashing into her… twice.

“Oh. Yeah, me too.” Kara smiled, and Lena almost missed the blush that colored her cheeks. _Almost._

 

* * *

 

 

“Kara—oh my god, shove it down more or they’re totally gonna notice. No—” Alex and Kara were busy shoving a few boxes of candy in each other's pants, bickering back and forth about how it was obvious, or how it totally was _not._

“It’s fine, Alex! Trust me, no one’s going to be looking at our butts when we’re facing them.” Kara dismissed Alex’s grunt of disapproval, turning towards Sam and Lena to give them a thumbs up.

Lena looked at Kara’s backside when she turned around, and Lena raised a single eyebrow at Sam. It was very obvious. She and Sam could see the outline of a box on Kara’s lower back, Alex at least having the decency to wear a t-shirt that came halfway down her butt and covered most of it. Not Kara, though. Kara didn’t bother to untuck her shirt, insisting that they’d be fine.

They walked into the theater and it seemed to be fine. A security guard standing to the side made Lena a little nervous, but she pretended to be aloof. She and Sam walked behind Kara and Alex, everyone planning on buying their tickets separately.

The security guard looked over at the group of teenagers next to them and started walking around everyone, his eyes analyzing everyone. If he took a few more steps, he’d be behind Lena, and it was almost Kara’s turn to step up and purchase her ticket. The security guard took those few steps, and Lena panicked, her arm reached out to grasp Kara’s shoulder and she stepped forward into the woman’s back, whispering, “there’s a security guard looking at us.”

Lena didn’t see Kara’s deep blush or feel her shudder at the feeling of Lena’s hot breath against the shell of her ear. She couldn’t hear Kara’s rapid heartbeat or Kara’s breath hitching.

It was Kara’s turn to buy her tickets, and Lena stayed behind her, keeping a hand on the small of Kara’s back, “hi, um, two tickets for Moana, please.” Lena frowned at Kara buying her ticket, but she didn’t pay too much attention to it, just focused on staying behind Kara until they were past most of the workers.

They stopped outside the theater and waited for Sam and Alex, Kara nervously adjusting her glasses when Lena stepped in front of her, “thanks.” Her voice was soft, and it made Lena smile.

“Anytime.” Lena hummed, stepping aside for Alex so her and her sister could help each other wiggle boxes of candy out of the waistband of each other’s pants.

“Why did you put them under _both_ shirts?” Alex grimaced, frustratedly untucking Kara’s shirts completely so she could grab the boxes.

 _“You_ did it!” Kara tucked her shirt back in when Alex was finished, and they had all of the candy in hand.

There were only a few people in the theater, and the four of them found their own row. Sam and Alex kept a seat in between them and the other two, handing out all of the candy to their respected owner. Kara happily took four boxes, setting about opening one when Lena suddenly pulled a bottle of water out of her pant leg. _“What?”_ Kara just stared at the bottle until Lena put it in her cup holder.

“Luthor’s can be sneaky.” Lena grinned, pulling another from her other leg to keep for herself.

Kara leaned over Lena to see if Sam or Alex had witnessed what she did, her jaw nearly dropping when she saw the two of them had their own drinks as well, “when did you—I don’t remember grabbing the drinks… what?”

Lena gently shushed her, waving at the screen in front of them, instructing Kara to watch instead of talk.

Kara quieted down and skeptically drank her water, throwing back a few m&m’s in the process. She didn’t have a problem with being silent because Kara loved Disney movies more than any other movies. She had a soft spot for Disney, so when Lena’s leg started bouncing up and down near the beginning of the movie, Kara glanced at her knee and placed her hand over the fabric of Lena’s leg, successfully stopping it. She didn’t think much of it, just kept her eyes glued to the screen as a baby Moana played with the ocean.

Lena, on the other hand, was everything but on fire. The skin underneath Kara’s fingertips felt like it was melting, her face rising in temperature. Unlike Kara, who Lena noticed was still watching the movie, occasionally popping a handful of m&m’s into her mouth, Lena was aware of everything _but_ what was on the screen. She listened to Sam and Alex’s quiet whispers, heard the crumple of a wrapper every time Kara opened a new box of candy, noticed the shake of a bag of popcorn somewhere behind her, and ice sloshing around in a cup in the front of the theater. Her senses were overwhelmed, leading to her leg aggressively bouncing up and down, stopping when Kara’s hand was on her knee. Kara’s hand… on her knee.

Her brain short-circuited for a good half hour. The only thing that reigned in Lena’s attention was Kara removing her hand to open her drink, and Lena could only pay attention to how much she missed the touch. She looked over to Kara, who took a long swig of water, watching her throat bob as she swallowed. Lena’s throat mimicked Kara’s, swallowing down the lump in her throat. Her mouth was dry. Too dry. Lena tore her attention away from Kara to take a drink of her own water, looking forward at the screen.

Lena had no idea what was happening. Everyone was singing. Figures Kara would take her to see a movie where everyone sings. She didn’t realize she’d been tapping her fingers against her thigh until Kara’s hand snaked between her leg and her palm, pulling Lena’s hand enough so she could comfortably hold her hands. Lena just stared blankly at Kara, blinking slowly when their eyes met.

Kara stared back for a moment, smiled, then went right back to watching the movie.

She didn’t let go of Lena’s hand until the end of the movie.

The four of them piled into the car after the movie, Kara relinquishing her spot in the front seat so Sam could sit next to Alex, sitting in the back with Lena instead. “What’d you think?”

It took Lena a moment to realize Kara was asking what her opinion of the movie was. “Oh,” the only thing Lena could remember was the first ten seconds of one song, “the songs were really cute.”

Kara beamed up at Lena, starting to gush and babble about each song and how wonderful she thought they were. Lena made a mental note to buy the movie as soon as it came out on DVD so she could actually watch it.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Kara’s touch never left her hand, and it was driving Lena mad. She had test corrections to look over and grades to enter into the grade book, but instead, she was thinking about Kara’s hand in hers, or Kara’s hand on her knee, or Kara’s voice, or her bright smile, or her dangerous eyes.

This little crush was getting impossible. It was preventing Lena from doing her work, and she really valued her work performance. She noticed she’d been gradually getting behind on her work because instead of working, she was thinking, and instead of those thoughts being productive it was all wishful thinking. _What if Kara likes me? What if this is one-sided? What if she ends up hating me? What if… what if…_ all of these _what if’s_ were getting on Lena’s nerves.

She groaned and threw a paper on her desk, pulling her phone out to call Sam, not even waiting for her to say hello before venting, “I have a crush on Kara and I need it to stop.”

There was a long pause, _“Lena, you’re on speaker and I’m with Alex.”_

“Shit.”

Lena’s heart tightened in her chest even more at Alex’s whoop in the background, followed by, _“I knew it! God, you both are helpless.”_

 _“Alex—”_ Sam went on to shush the woman, _“hold on, I’m gonna step out so we can talk.”_

Lena waited patiently, her fingers tapping against the cold wood of her desk. Sam let her know she was alone, and Lena took a deep, steadying breath. “It’s not good, Sam.”

 _“And why not?”_ Lena could hear Sam’s deep sigh over the phone.

“Because… what Kara and I have—it’s the only normal thing in my life. It’s comfortable… it’s—” Lena paused to gather her thoughts. It was what? More than Lena could ever ask for? More than she deserved? “I can’t jeopardize it. And—and if I try to…” Lena fiddled with the skin around her nails, shrugging to herself, “I’ll ruin it. I’m already slacking off on my work because of this. I can’t let this keep going on, Sam.”

Sam waited until she was sure Lena was done speaking before humming quietly, _“Do you want my advice?”_ Lena hummed, _“grow a pair and go talk to her, Lena.”_

Lena rested her forehead against her palm, her jaw tight, “I can’t do that.”

_“Yes you can.”_

“It’s not that easy.”

 _“Then make it that easy. You’re Lena Luthor, you have two Ph.D.’s and however many other degrees. You’re a genius. The thing you’re best at is figuring things out.”_ Sam was right, but Lena wasn’t particularly convinced, _“You’re weirdly oblivious for a genius, though.”_

Lena’s eyebrows furrowed at that, “what do you mean?”

 _“You’re smart, you tell me.”_ She waited patiently for Lena to come up with the answer.

Lena spent a good minute thinking of what Sam could possibly mean. What is there to be oblivious about? Was she missing something? Lena watched her fingers tap against the surface of her desk, and it clicked. “No. She doesn’t.”

_“You really think so?”_

“Well, yes.”

_“You must be blind, then.”_

Lena ignored the butterflies, ignored the tinge of hope she felt in her heart because there was _no_ way. None. Surely not. But, then again… there were little things—small occurrences that always gave Lena an ounce of suspicion, but she always dismissed it as her seeing things. Like, for instance, how Kara’s face would turn red whenever Lena got close to her, and Kara would always say, _“wow, it sure is hot in here, huh?”_ and proceed to fan herself, taking a step back from Lena. Or how she would fumble around for a moment whenever Lena touched her, but Lena would always assume she’d just caught Kara off guard. Or how Kara held her hand at the movies even when Lena hadn’t been tapping her fingers on her thigh or bouncing her leg.

_“You’re realizing things, aren’t you?”_

Lena blinked a few times, words catching in her throat, “I—that’s… She…” Lena swallowed, the lump in her throat preventing her from being able to form a coherent sentence. Her mind was racing with thoughts of every single encounter she’s had with Kara that left behind that little unfamiliar feeling—the one that made her insides warm and her head clear.

Sam chuckled softly at Lena’s lack of words, _“Lena, come on. Use common sense here… this is Kara Danvers. Even if she didn’t like you, she would never ditch you over this. And if she happens to not feel the same, you can play it off. But you might not have to.”_

Sam was right. Lena knew Kara well enough to know that much. Kara was loyal. She was sweet and kind, and the embodiment of everything that is good in the world. Still, she was apprehensive about the idea of confessing. “I don’t like ‘might’s’,” she grumbled, sitting back in her chair with a pout. Lena didn’t even know _how_ to tell someone she liked them. People normally told her… she was inexperienced in this realm.

_“You’re just going to have to suffer until you do it, so just get it done, Lena. You’ve known each other long enough, it will be fine. I guarantee.”_

Lena nodded. It’ll be fine. Definitely. _Okay, yeah. I got this. I can do this. I’m going to do this… Tomorrow._ “I’m going to do it.” Lena declared out loud because if she didn’t say it she wouldn’t commit. Now she had to, that was the rule.

_“Thank god.”_

They laughed, and Lena realized the time. It was nearing ten. She still had a lot of work to do. “Well, I’ll let you get back to your little date,” she ignored Sam’s little huff, followed by _‘it’s not a date’_ insisting on letting Sam go so she could get back to work.

She felt much better—so much so that she finished everything before midnight, managing to be in bed and asleep to get her at least six hours of sleep.

Her thoughts didn’t stray too far, tiredness most prevalent in her mind.

Lena saved her worries for another day because tonight her only worry was falling asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

An average Wednesday for Kara consisted of a lecture in the morning, lunch soon after, another lecture in the afternoon, and then an open period for her students to come in and ask her whatever questions they may have about anything. Some days her room was packed, usually right before a big essay was due, but others it was completely empty. Like today.

Kara wasn’t complaining about the quiet, though. She had a chance to grade the homework she didn’t get a chance to last night. The quiet also gave her time to think, and Kara wasn’t particularly happy about that since her thoughts usually drifted to a certain woman with intoxicating green eyes and ridiculously plump lips. Kara cocked her head suddenly, trying to shake off the image of Lena’s lips. They were too distracting.

She made enough progress to warrant a break, looking at her cellphone for the first time in a few hours. She smiled when a text from Lena showed up on her screen, _“text me when you’re free.”_ She did.

Lena texted back a few minutes later, _“I’m about done cleaning up a lab disaster, I’ll come by when I’m done. Need anything?”_

Kara couldn’t think of anything, so she declined. She pushed back from her desk, standing up to stretch out her limbs, letting out a satisfied groan. She could feel her bones sighing in approval, and she straightened out to trod off to stand next to a window, enjoying every ounce of sun she could get from being cooped up inside her classroom. It was late spring, classes nearly over. She had a goal to read over twenty new books during the summer, and she couldn’t wait to get started.

She was in the process of running through a mental list of book titles when Lena walked in, knocking gently on the door to grab Kara’s attention. “Hey! How was the lab fiasco?”

Lena entered and soon joined Kara by the windows lining the side of the room, “one of my students sneezed in front of a beaker with thionyl chloride, and the beaker exploded. I had to spend my entire morning drowning my entire lab in water.”

Kara’s eyes widened in shock, “oh, wow… did anyone get hurt?”

Lena shrugged, “it wasn’t enough to make the glass go everywhere, it just kind of cracked in a bunch of different places and, you know, fell apart.” She leaned against the windowsill and watched the trees outside move with the flow of the wind, “the fire department had to come, but no one was hurt. I managed to contain the spill.”

Kara hummed, relieved to hear that no one was hurt. She’d had her fair share of lab accidents, but she was lucky enough to have cracked beakers be the extent of it.

They fell silent for a moment, both watching the world on the other side of the window. A road full of cars trying to leave campus for the day, students walking in groups back to their homes, leaves struggling to hang on to branches, a pair of squirrels running across the grass. The outside world looked busy, yet it was so quiet in that room. Kara wondered if Lena was thinking about the same things—if she was thinking that the silence in the room was opposing the busyness of everything around them including their thoughts.

She looked over at Lena to see if maybe she could see any indication that she was, eyes dragging over the slope of her nose, then the jagged curve of her jaw. She saw the bulge form in Lena’s jaw when it tightened and was met with those bristling green eyes a moment later. “I need to tell you something.”

Kara blinked a few times at the carefulness of Lena’s words, her eyebrows furrowed intensely with worry, but a hint of something else that Kara couldn’t quite place. Desperation, maybe? Though, Kara couldn’t think of any reason Lena would be desperate or anything. She realized Lena was still looking at her with that same expression and she remembered she was spoken to, “oh, yeah… sure. Go ahead.” She turned to face Lena, giving up her full attention.

Lena took a few deep breaths, eyes suddenly darting to their feet, “I, um…” her lips formed a straight line as she watched the people pass outside, attempting to gain the courage to say something, “I’m so good at understanding what it is people want,” she began. “I know exactly how to give it to them in a way that benefits us both. While running L-Corp I hardly struck a deal that ended up being a flop—I never took a risk that wasn’t calculated. I didn’t spend hours at night thinking about what I was going to wear to a business deal, or what I was going to say, even. I knew what it was we both wanted, and I worked until that’s what we both got.

“I start teaching here, and it’s my first day, and I already know exactly what it is I’m going to do throughout the year and how much time I’m going to have to spend grading papers, helping students, going to meetings… but then you ran into me, and threw me off entirely.” When Kara frowned slightly, Lena stepped closer to her, offering her a warm smile before continuing, “I found myself worrying about what to wear, or I’d find myself staying up at night wondering what your favorite flowers are, or what your favorite novel is, because we both know that deep down you have a favorite, or I’d just lay there and I’d wonder what color your eyes would be in a sunset—I’m thinking purple.” She paused for a long moment and waited for Kara to soak in her words.

The only problem was that Kara was a slow soaker, so they stood in a murderous silence that nearly killed Lena’s heart. She watched the blonde stand there, eyes blinking, lips parting as if to say something, then pursing together to stop herself from talking. It was terrible, and Lena wanted to run out the door. “Kara? Do you understand what I’m getting at because I don’t think I’ve built up enough courage to say anything else.”

Kara shook her head slightly, looking down to nervously fiddle with her classes. Words, yes. Words sounded like a really good idea, “I think I understand,” her voice came out softer than she intended, and she hoped Lena heard her.

If this was a love confession, Kara was going to faint. She was going to quite literally drop to the floor.

“Do you really?” Lena questioned.

“Um…” Kara didn’t know what to say. She planned on telling Lena her own feelings at some point, but she didn’t plan on doing it _today._ She hadn’t written a monologue in her head. There was no script. How do you tell someone you’re in love with them with only ten seconds to figure out what it is you want to say? “Lena, I—I think I, uh” she risked a glance to Lena’s eyes, seeing the flight or fight response starting to take over within her eyes—seeing how ready Lena looked to bolt out the door, and Kara mentally kicked herself. _Say it. Just say it. Come on, say it. Say. It._

“You don’t have to say anything, Kara. I just wanted to get it out there.” Lena didn’t give Kara a chance before turning on her heel, offering Kara a sad smile, “I may be good at containing chemical spills, but when it comes to my emotions I don’t think I’m good at keeping those in check. Thanks for letting me just talk.”

Lena began walking, and Kara helplessly squeaked in her direction. _Go,_ her mind was screaming at her, _say it._ Kara knew that she’d never be able to build up enough courage to confess. Lena would move on, and Kara would have to do the same. She’d have to learn how to be around Lena and fall out of love with her at the same time. But Kara couldn’t do that. She would have to stop talking to Lena if she wanted to do that. Kara would have to live a life without Lena Luthor from that point on.

It almost took too long for Kara to admit that that isn’t what she wanted at all. She couldn’t imagine a world without Lena Luthor in her fancy skirts and satin blouses, or her red lips and emerald eyes, so she spoke up, “stop.”

Lena was almost to the door, her hand frozen just above the handle. She said nothing as she turned to look at Kara, gazing curiously at the blonde as she waited.

 _Say it._ “Whatever it is you’re saying… whatever feelings you’re trying to convey, I think…” she took a deep breath, resolute in one thing: she wanted to live in a world where Lena Luthor was always there, “I feel the same.” Lena stood frozen in her spot, and Kara panicked, “I realized very fast, actually, how much I liked you. Alex told me I was in love with you, and I was quick to deny it… but I knew I did. I do.” Her rambling only hastened when Lena began walking towards her, “how couldn’t I? You’re—” Lena was standing close—way too close for Kara to be able to finish her thought.

Lena’s gaze was intent on Kara’s eyes, and it made the blonde swallow hard, but blue eyes never deviated from green. “I’m what?”

Kara hummed nervously under Lena’s gaze, a blush creeping up her neck, “you’re… you.”

“Interesting.” Lena smiled at Kara’s nervousness, trying to ignore the sound of her heartbeat in her ears. She noticed her close proximity to Kara a moment later, looking at the space between them. She didn’t step back. “So, you really…?”

“I do.”

There were millions of words circulating through Lena’s mind, but not a single one came out, so she hummed instead.

They watched each other for a moment, gauging the others expressions trying to calculate the meaning behind each blink, each breath, every single shift in weight onto the other foot.

Kara cleared her throat, eyes flitting down to their shoes before looking back at Lena with a new resolve, “So, um… do you want to, uh, you know, go on a date?”

Lena smiled, “you mean all those times we’ve had lunch together _weren’t_?”

Kara laughed at that, her nerves settling slightly, “well, like, an actual date. We can—I don’t know. We can get dinner? On Saturday? I’ll take you to my favorite restaurant.”

“That sounds wonderful, Kara.” Lena’s smiled widened, and Kara flustered at the sight of such a thing aimed at her.

“Okay.” _Okay._ “I’ll pick you up, then.” _Oh gosh, I have to clean my car._ Kara’s inward panic was replaced with a warm fuzziness from Lena stepping closer to her, lips brushing gently against her face to give her a soft kiss on Kara’s cheek. _Oh, wow._

“I can’t wait.”

_Wow._

Never in a million years did Kara expect Lena to be the one to confess her feelings. She didn't even think Lena had feelings for her; processing it was proving too difficult, even after Lena had left to go home for the day. She tried calling Alex as soon as she got home to make sense of it, but Alex's only piece of advice was shouting  _"shit. Now I owe Sam twenty bucks."_

"Alex. I'm having a bit of a crisis right now, can you, ya know, help?"

Alex cleared her throat,  _"Sorry, yes. Lena likes you. You like Lena. Now date. Sound good?"_

Kara rolled her eyes and threw herself on her couch, "Nothing's ever that easy, Alex."

 _"It's only as hard as you make it."_ Kara mulled over Alex's words. She had a point.  _"I have to call you back tomorrow, I'm on my way to work. Don't spend so much time worrying over nothing, Kara. I love you."_

"Thanks, Alex. Love you too." they hung up and Kara groaned. She wished she could take everything as it is and not have to look into every single piece of information to try and find some kind of hidden meaning. Maybe this was something that is exactly as it sounds. Lena likes her, plain and simple.

Nothing's ever that simple, though. Still, Kara was beyond excited for their date.

She, too, couldn't wait.


	10. Chapter 10

Kara couldn’t take her eyes off Lena from the second she stepped out the doors to her apartment building. She was breathtaking in her simple black dress, the next plunging enough to cause Kara’s cheeks to flush every time her eyes wandered. She found a new freckle on Lena’s chest and added it to the list of her favorite things about Lena. Her hair looked even more silky than usual, falling down her shoulder blades in perfect, dark strands. Kara wanted to take her hand off the wheel and run her hand through those black tresses, but she held off in favor of not crashing.

She’d pause to look at Lena at every stop sign, dark green eyes meeting blue, and Kara would blush fiercely, but she wouldn’t look away. Not until she had to.

Kara wondered how on earth everything led to this. She didn’t think she’d been pining too much. She didn’t think there was any point where she gave away her feelings. Kara thought she did a pretty good job of keeping her feelings in check, and she did.

The only reason they were where they were, in Kara’s car, going to a coffee shop for poetry night, was because of Lena. Lena didn’t dawdle around with her feelings, and she took initiative right away. Kara knew it must have taken a lot for Lena to build up enough courage to confront her, and she was thankful for Lena’s strong will. She certainly was a go-getter, unlike Kara.

It would have taken Kara months, maybe even years, to tell Lena. So she was thankful, because now she was sitting with Lena at a stoplight openly admiring her beauty without remorse.

Lena caught her gaze for the umpteenth time and smiled shyly, “what is it?”

Kara offered a soft smile, reaching over to grab Lena’s hand, resting their joined hands on the center console. “I just think you’re beautiful.” The light turned green and Kara drove, her hand remaining in Lena’s, the other on the steering wheel. It was hard to focus on the road when Lena’s hand was so soft against hers. She missed Lena’s faint blush.

When they arrived to the coffee shop, Kara went to get them both drinks and they sat at a high table off to the side of the group of people crowded around the front of the shop where a woman was reading a poem. Kara wasn’t paying any attention to her, but rather on Lena, who was watching the other woman’s performance.

How Lena managed to look stunning in every type of lighting, Kara had no idea. The space around her suddenly broke out in a mixture of snapping and clapping, and Kara tore her gaze away to watch the woman leave the stage, another entering to indicate a short five minute break so the staff could dish out food orders. Lena met Kara’s gaze, and, _wow, she’s just so pretty._

Words started pouring out of her mouth before she could even think about what she was saying, “you know, I’m a literature teacher. I’ve read hundreds of novels about everything from science to romance; I’ve read poems and scripts, and dissertations, reports… you name it. But, out of everything I’ve read I was never able to understand the author as well as I did when I read your papers.” Kara thought about the reports she’d stumbled upon years ago when she was still a reporter. Lena’s style of writing was just like any other scientist, but the difference between Lena and everyone else was Lena’s passion and desire to _teach_ the reader. She put things into perspective. She turned complicated terms into something simple in a matter of a sentence. Her ability to do so made Kara do more research on Lena.

She read everything she could. There were papers, reports, even interviews she read over and over again. Her old boss wanted her to find dirt on Lena, but all Kara could see was a bright young CEO with a passion for her work. There was no dirt, and she dropped the project. She almost regretted it, because then maybe she could have met Lena sooner. Maybe she could have turned the project into something else—something that would paint the Luthor in a positive light, but she was too low on the totem pole at the time. So she dropped it and moved on, forgetting about Lena until the day she realized she’d ran into her. Twice.

“I’ve always known you were good. There was never, _ever,_ a doubt in my mind that you weren’t.”

Lena’s eyes were soft as she watched Kara speak. She smiled at the kind words, taking a sip of her coffee, “I never thought there would be. You’ve proved that to me on multiple occasions, and I’m grateful. And I’m very grateful for you giving me another friend like Alex, too. Really. I can’t thank you enough, Kara.”

Kara grinned and ducked her head, her grin impossible to stop. “I—I really like you. And I’m glad we’re here,” she motioned to the space around them, “but honestly, I haven’t been on a date in a really long time so I have no idea what I’m doing.”

Lena chuckled at that, “Me neither.” They fell silent for a moment, a man taking the stage to read his piece. Before he began, Lena leaned over her drink to whisper quietly at Kara, “I’m really glad you brought me here. If I had to stare at you over a proper dinner I think I’d end up jumping the table to kiss you.”

It was Kara’s turn to laugh, it coming out a bit louder than she wanted as a few heads turned in her direction. She smiled shyly and glared at Lena but reached over the table for her hand regardless. “Maybe later,” she whispered.

Lena held her to that.

Later came, and the last poet left the stage. They grabbed their things and walked to Kara’s car, hands brushing against each other a few times as they walked. Once they settled and Kara began driving, Lena spoke up, “I didn’t realize so many people in National City were _that_ heartbroken.”

Kara laughed, recalling countless poems of heartbreak, “hey, there were some about love. The ghost story one was really cool, too. I think the guy was personifying his inner demons into character form by giving each ghost their own specific affliction.”

They discussed each poem the rest of the car ride, Kara breaking them down for Lena and offering her own interpretations of each. Most were the same, she noticed, but they were still deep. There wasn’t a single bad one to Kara, but some of them felt redundant. “Heartbreak is easy to explain, but I think the details that led up to that heartbreak are important. I mean, you have to fall in love before you can experience heartbreak…”

Lena hummed in agreement. Kara pulled up to the front of Lena’s apartment building and they sat in silence for a moment. None of them wanted to leave. Lena looked out the window at the building, dreading getting out of the car, and an idea popped up into her head, “would you like to come up for a little bit?”

Kara seemed to consider it, nodding slightly, “sure.” She found a parking spot and together they walked up to Lena’s penthouse.

The ride up the elevator was quiet between stolen glances and faint blushes. Kara’s heart was pounding in her chest, and she wondered if Lena’s was doing the same. They stepped out of the elevator a moment later, and Kara followed Lena to her door, not surprised to see floor to ceiling windows lining the walls in front of them as they entered Lena’s place.

They took their shoes off, Kara stumbling against Lena’s side when she lost her balance, causing them both to laugh. “I think my body just really wants me to run into you again,” Kara chuckled, slipping her shoe off finally.

“Apparently,” Lena beckoned for Kara to follow her through her apartment, turning on lights to show off the bright interior, a bright, cozy interior. Kara was immediately drawn to Lena’s crescent moon shaped couch in the middle of her living room, and she was happy to see Lena lead her right to it, “want to watch a movie? I have Netflix, but if I’m being honest, I don’t know how to work it. I don’t actually watch TV very often.”

Kara frowned slightly, “you pay for Netflix, but you don’t use it?” oh the _joy_ of being rich.

“Well, just in case I ever want to. I’ve used it once, but it took me an hour just to figure out how to get to the screen with Netflix on it. Here.” She handed Kara the remote and let her figure it out, wondering how on earth Kara managed to open up Netflix in less than two minutes. “Now you’re just showing off,” Lena grumbled, sinking back into her seat.

Kara chuckled, scanning over various titles, “you’ve invented some of the most innovative technology in the world, yet you can’t work a TV?”

“I haven’t had time to figure it out!”

Kara let out a loud laugh, easing up on the woman. She smiled when she saw the title _Pride & Prejudice _on the screen and hit play, smiling at Lena’s little chuckle that escaped her lips.

“Oh, pause it. I’ll be right back.” Lena shot off the couch, and Kara turned to watch her scramble around her penthouse, returning to throw a large comforter on Kara and retreating to the kitchen, the sound of popping like music to Kara’s ears as Lena made popcorn. “It’s unsalted, is that okay?” Lena said, handing Kara the massive bowl of popcorn.

Kara shrugged, “I think I’ll manage.” She scooted over so Lena could sit back down next to her, placing the blanket over their laps and hitting play.

The movie started and they watched it in silence, the bowl of popcorn tucked between them. Lena would occasionally tap her fingers on her lap, stopping for a few minutes before continuing to drum her fingertips against her thighs.

Soon, that was all Kara could focus on, so she moved the bowl of popcorn to the coffee table and scooted over, wrapping her arm around Lena’s shoulder, the other one reaching across to hold one of Lena’s hands in her own. They got comfortable, Lena’s head resting against Kara’s shoulder, and they enjoyed the movie pressed safely against each other.

Kara let go of Lena’s hand only to cover up a sneeze, accidentally startling Lena. “Sorry.”

Lena got past her fright when she saw Kara staring at her, glasses lopsided on her face, and she chuckled quietly, reaching out to fix them. Her fingers brushed against the skin of Kara’s cheekbones, and she didn’t bother to move them, just rested her palms on Kara’s face when her glasses were fixed. They shared a few uneven breaths before Lena took a deep, steadying breath, the sound of pianos and violins in the background covering up the sound of her heartbeat in her ears, and she pushed forward, not even having to pull Kara to her for the blonde to meet her halfway, their lips meeting in a soft, tentative kiss.

Kara inhaled sharply at the contact, and it was over before it began. Her eyes fluttered open to see Lena’s eyes glass over, and she soon found herself pushing into Lena, their lips meeting with a force fueled by months of repressed feelings. She pushed a little too hard, and Lena fell back into the cushions of the couch, the blanket falling off their laps and tumbling to the floor. Kara looked down at her, a bashful smile on her lips.

Lena’s breathing became ragged, hungry for more. She reached up to grab Kara’s wrist, tugging her down so they could kiss. Kara’s knees were at either side of her hips, and Lena’s hands moved on their own, palms running across the fabric hugging Kara’s thighs. She nipped at Kara’s bottom lip, enticing a short moan from the blonde that made Lena’s heart race and her fingers curl, gripping Kara’s thighs with enough force to cause her to grind her hips down into Lena’s. She had to break away from Kara’s lips so she could breathe, her mind foggy.

This was a lot, but Lena didn’t want to stop. Kara’s lips found the column of Lena’s neck, Lena inhaling sharply when Kara’s teeth sank into the skin just above her shoulder. She shifted her weight onto one knee, lifting her other leg and grabbing Lena’s calf, moving it over so Kara could put her knee in the space between Lena’s legs, Lena’s other slipping out from underneath Kara, wrapping her legs around the blonde's hips, causing her dress to ride up her thighs, and she pulled Kara down. Their bodies flush against each other, Lena’s arms wrapped around Kara’s shoulders, humming when Kara’s hands gripped Lena’s exposed thighs.

A broken _“Lena…”_ escaped Kara’s lips a few moments later, and she pushed back slightly.

Lena relaxed her legs slightly, pulling her head back to look at Kara, “hmm? Should we stop here?”

Kara sat back on her knees, looking down at the Luthor, her breath uneven, “I don’t want to, but… I—we should—well…”

“We should wait.” Lena finished for her, a reassuring smile on her face. She held out her hand for Kara to take, pulling her down and adjusted so they were eye to eye while laying on the couch. She held Kara’s hands between their bodies and smiled. After a minute of comfortable silence, aside from the sound of the credits rolling, Lena pushed forward and nuzzled her head into the crook of Kara’s neck, humming contentedly when Kara wrapped an arm around Lena’s waist to get closer to her, “I haven’t felt like this in a while?”

Kara’s fingertips rubbed soothing circles into Lena’s side, “like what?”

“Happy. I mean, I’ve been happy, but right now I think it’s kind of like this serene feeling mixed with happiness… Do you know what I mean?”

Kara leaned back to look at Lena, “I think so.” She watched Lena’s eyes, wondering how they managed to stay so green, even in the dim lighting. Kara felt the same way—happy. Genuinely happy. It wasn’t until a few minutes later before she took a deep breath to speak again, “you know, I first heard about you because of all of those brilliant reports you wrote. I loved reading everything you’d written, but I think talking to you and actually being with you is far better than reading what you’ve written.”

Lena chuckled softly, bringing Kara’s hand up to her lips to place a soft kiss to her palm, “so you’re that I, the creator, and better than my creations?”

Kara mulled the sentence over for a moment before nodding, “yeah, I guess.”

Lena shrugged, “I’ll take it,” and placed a sweet, gentle kiss into Kara’s lips.

They laid on that couch for what felt like hours before Kara stood up, Lena following suit, but neither of them wanted to part ways, too caught up in their own comfort of being together to separate.

So Lena led Kara to her bedroom, offering the blonde a spare set of pajamas and together they slipped into Lena’s ridiculously comfortable bed, falling asleep in a tangle of limbs and sheets, waking up the very same way.

Mornings such as that wouldn’t be the last for the two of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's all she (I) wrote!  
> This is the very end of this story, but I have another one in the works. It's gonna make way more sense than this.  
> This was kind of an "I have an idea for the ending of a story but I kinda need to make a beginning, too" story.  
> Either way, I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
